Montclair, NJ – The Montclair State University Men's Lacrosse team enters the Coastal Lacrosse Conference Quarterfinals as the sixth-seeded team and will travel to take on third-seeded Kean on Sunday.
GAME INFO
The playoff contest at Alumni Stadium is set for a 12:00 p.m. start. Live coverage links can be found at montclairathletics.com.
LAST TIME OUT
Montclair wrapped up the regular season suffering a 26-9 loss at the hands of #2 Salisbury. The Sea Gulls opened the game with a goal in the first 1:15 of the game, but the Red Hawks fired back at the nationally ranked squad.
JOHN CRANK picked up the ground ball off the succeeding faceoff and placed the ball in the net for the tie. Crank then put Montclair ahead just one minute later with another goal, this time assisted by
JACK CLEARY. Cleary then, at 8:12, fired in a goal of his own off a pass from
AIDAN MAXWELL, and all of a sudden, the Red Hawks were on top, 3-1. After holding out for three minutes, Salisbury eventually broke through the Montclair defense with a goal at the 5:58 mark. That goal opened the floodgates as the Sea Gulls fired back with four unanswered goals to take a 6-3 lead into the second quarter. Salisbury kept the attack going, scoring a trio of goals in the first four minutes of the second quarter for a 9-3 lead. Montclair took advantage of a man-up opportunity at the 7:46 mark when
JULIAN VARONA found
MAX MOROSOFF for a goal 16 seconds later. The Red Hawks won the next face-off and tried to chip away at the lead, but a blocked shot and a quick-transition goal from Salisbury put them up 10-4. They then took advantage of a non-releasable penalty to fire in three more goals to bump the lead up to 13-4. The Sea Gulls collected two more goals down the stretch in the first half to take a 15-4 lead into the halftime break. The Red Hawks kicked off the scoring in the second half at the 13:20 timestamp with Cleary firing in his second goal of the day. Salisbury responded with four unanswered goals to take a 19-5 advantage. Between 4:50 and 2:57, Montclair saw a duo of unassisted goals from
LOUIS AZARA and
ETHAN MOUNIER to cut into the lead 19-7. The Sea Gulls put one more shot into the net with 17 seconds remaining and took a 20-7 lead into the final quarter. It was almost all Salisbury in the fourth quarter, amassing six goals all the way down to the 5:36 mark. The Red Hawks added to its total two more times before the final horn sounded with two man-up goals. At 4:07,
CODY COOPER connected with Morosoff for a goal and then with 2:43 remaining in the game, Azara found the back of the net off a pass from
SEBASTIAN GRAZIANO. The game went final with the score at 26-9 Salisbury.
TEAM LEADERS
MONTCLAIR STATE (8-7, 0-5 CLC)
Goals:
MAX MOROSOFF, 35
Assists:
JACK CLEARY, 27
Points:
MAX MOROSOFF, 51
Shots:
JACK CLEARY, 104
Ground Balls:
LUCAS NOVACK, 83
Caused Turnovers:
CORBIN QUINTERO, 27
Faceoff Wins:
LUCAS NOVACK, 138
Saves:
NICHOLI HALSE, 153
Wins:
NICHOLI HALSE, 8
KEAN (13-4, 3-2 CLC)
Goals:
Dylan Johnson, 65
Assists:
Nick Thorne, 33
Points:
Dylan Johnson, 82
Shots:
Dylan Johnson, 182
Ground Balls:
Christian Updale, 64
Caused Turnovers:
Kenny Yeager, 32
Faceoff Wins:
Christian Updale, 123
Saves:
Nick Paterno, 193
Wins:
Nick Paterno, 12
SCOUTING KEAN
The Cougars earned the third seed in the Coastal Lacrosse Conference playoffs with a 3-2 CLC record and sport a 13-4 overall record this season. In 2024, Kean finished 12-7 and went 2-3 in CLC play. In the conference tournament, they defeated Mary Washington by a score of 16-14 but fell in the semifinals to Salisbury, 25-5. According to the 2025 CLC Preseason Poll, the Cougars are slated to finish fourth.
SERIES HISTORY
The Red Hawks and the Cougars will face off for the 70
th time in their rivalry. Montclair has the series advantage at 49-20.
LAST MEETING
In their conference meeting last season on April 17, Kean outdueled Montclair by a score of 16-12.
UP NEXT
The winner of this game will travel to take on second-seeded Christopher Newport on Wednesday, April 30, with time to be determined later.
