Madison, NJ – The Montclair State University men's lacrosse team knocked off Manhattanville 16-8 to advance to the Tom Leanos Cup Championship Game on Friday afternoon at Drew University.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Red Hawks (5-1) fell behind early on a goal from the Valiants 90 seconds in, but leveled the game at the 8:24 mark as SEBASTIAN GRAZIANO ripped a shot past the goaltender on a feed from JULIAN VARONA. NICHOLI HALSE tallied a pair of saves over the next five minutes, but Manhattanville reclaimed the lead on a man-up goal with 2:43 on the clock. Montclair responded with a man-up goal of their own, as JACK CLEARY found Graziano for his second marker of the stanza to tie the game after the opening period.
• Montclair surged out in front in the second quarter, as a save from Halse two and half minutes in led to a goal from JOHN CRANK on the ensuing possession. LUCAS NOVACK won the  next faceoff, and ETHAN MOUNIER sent a feed to CODY COOPER who struck to double the advantage with 11:31 remaining in the half. Later in the stanza, Cleary found MAX MOROSOFF for a man-up goal just under the two-minute mark to continue the run. Mounier scored in the waning moments of the period, but Manhattanville snuck in a goal off the next faceoff to make the halftime score 6-3.
• Morosoff scored on the opening possession of the second half to increase the lead to four for the Red Hawks, but the Valiants countered with a marker of their own at the 8:31 mark to bring it back to 7-4. The Red Hawks rattled off five-straight goals over the next seven minutes, a run kicked off by a pair from Morosoff and a marker from AIDAN MAXWELL. Novack struck off a find from JACKSON SIMONS with just over a minute on the clock, and Crank scored to push the advantage to a game-high eight. 
• Manhattanville scored the next two, bridging the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter. Three minutes later, Montclair answered with a goal from Cooper, and Mounier notched an unassisted strike to make the margin eight with 10 minutes left. Varona found Cleary at the six-minute mark, and DAREN MAYER capped off the day with a goal shortly after. The Valiants tallied the final goal of the contest with 2:16 remaining, but could not get any closer as Montclair sealed the victory.

INSIDE THE RESULTS

• The Red Hawks have won five of their first six contests to begin the 2025 season, their best start since the 2014 campaign.
• Morosoff increased his team-leading goal total to 16 on the campaign with four on the day. He has scored four or more goals in three of Montclair's six games.
• Graziano notched his sixth multi-goal performance of his collegiate career. Cleary finished with five assists, the third most for him in a single game during his career.
• Halse earned the victory in net for Montclair, notching eight saves over 42 minutes. GIANNI GRAZIANO tallied seven stops over the remaining 18 minutes.

FROM THE FIELD

"It was a nice win. Our defense really played well early and let our offense settle in before they got rolling. Still have a few things to clean up but excited to be playing for the Tom Leanos Cup Championship on Sunday afternoon." - Head Coach Matt Poskay

UP NEXT

The Red Hawks will take on Drew in the Tom Leanos Cup Championship Game on Sunday, March 16. Opening faceoff from Madison, NJ is scheduled for 3:00 PM.