March 31, 2004

Box Score

Bethlehem, PA - The Marist College men's lacrosse team opened a 3-0 lead this afternoon, but could not hold on, falling 10-5 to Lehigh. The Red Foxes fall to 3-3 with the loss, while the Mountain Hawks earn their first win of the year and are now 1-7.

Jay Nahama got the scoring underway for Marist as he found the back of the net at the nine minute mark of the first period and Marist was in front 1-0. The Red Foxes then added on two more goals and after Nahama scored his second goal of the day at the 9:35 mark of the second period, the Red Foxes led 3-0. But from that point on the Mountain Hawks dominated, scooping up each groundball, playing suffocating defense and exploding on the offensive end.

The offensive outburst began when Andrew Mastromonaco found the back of the net at the 7:06 mark of the second period to trim the Marist lead to 3-1. Mike Osborne then scored a goal of his own at the 3:05 mark to pull the Mountain Hawks within one and after Mastromonaco scored his second goal of the half with just over one minute remaining, Lehigh had pulled to within a tie, at 3-3 going into halftime.

As the second half got underway, Josh Ben-Eliyahu notched the go-ahead goal for Marist, but that lead by the Red Foxes was short lived as Stephen Marino took a pass from Osborne at the 8:26 mark and drilled one past the Marist goalie to once again pull Lehigh even, this time at 4-4. Mastromonaco then scored two consecutive goals, the second with just over one minute remaining in the third quarter and the Mountain Hawks were in front 6-4.

Ryan Blaney won four face-offs for the Red Foxes, who were again impressive in man-down situations, not allowing a goal in six Lehigh oppurtunities.

Steve Gravino continued to play well in net, making 14 saves in the contest. Tom Ellis was solid in goal all afternoon for Lehigh, totaling ten saves total, while facing 17 shots for the game.