Montclair, NJ – The Montclair State University men's lacrosse team fell to #6 Christopher Newport 12-6 on Saturday afternoon in the Coastal Lacrosse Conference opener for both sides.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Red Hawks (4-5, 0-1 CLC) fell behind on the first possession of the contest, as the Captains won the opening faceoff and struck 95 seconds in. Montclair leveled at the five minute mark of the first, as CODY COOPER found RYAN VIERBUCHEN to even the score.
• Christopher Newport reclaimed the advantage less than a minute later, and scored three more times to open the second frame to build a four-goal advantage. The Red Hawks made a push late in the first half, but the Captains forced two turnovers in the final two minutes.
• Montclair started the third stanza strong, as JEFF FELTER scooped a ground ball and found JACK CLEARY following the clear attempt, who found the back of the net to cut into the margin. JACKSON SIMONS tallied a man-up marker on an assist from Cleary to make the score 5-3 at the 6:18 mark. Both defenses tightened up, as the two teams forced a combined five turnovers in the remainder of the third.
• Christopher Newport rattled off three-straight goals in the opening three minutes of the final frame to build a five-goal lead. ETHAN MOUNIER answered with an unassisted tally following a Captains turnover, but the visitors responded again with three consecutive markers to make the score 11-4 with 6:27 left.
• Cleary found Vierbuchen for a man-advantage tally shortly after, and Cleary scored off a feed from DAREN MAYER with under four minutes on the clock to make the deficit five. The Captains registered their final tally with 88 seconds remaining to make the final margin 12-6.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Cleary and Vierbuchen each finished with two goals. Vierbuchen has scored in every contest this season, registering multiple markers in eight of Montclair's nine games.
• BRANDON SHEVINS collected 12 saves in the setback. It marked the fourth time this season he has tallied double-digit saves in net for the Red Hawks.

FROM THE FIELD

"Overall I felt we played a really good game except we had a few times where we needed to make a play and we weren't able to. Headed into the fourth quarter down two I thought we were gaining some momentum but unfortunately there was about a five minute spurt of the game that got away from us. CNU is an excellent team and we were right there with them most of the way. If we clean some things up a little, I am excited for the rest of conference play if we give an effort like we did today." - Head Coach Matt Poskay

UP NEXT

The Red Hawks will travel to face the University of Mary Washington on Saturday, April 6. Opening faceoff from Fredericksburg, VA is scheduled for 12:00 PM.