May 1, 2004
Box Score
Poughkeepsie, NY - The Marist College men's lacrosse team completed one of the most impressive turnarounds in history this evening, knocking off visiting Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Lacrosse League foe Wagner College, 12-6 to complete a perfect 8-0 MAAC Regular Season. The Red Foxes are 10-6 overall, while the Seahawks fall to 1-12 on the year and 1-7 in league play.
With the win, Marist completes its first-ever perfect conference schedule and wins the MAAC Regular Season title for the first time. The 10 wins is the most for the program since the 1986 team posted a 12-2 mark overall and is just the third time, that the Red Foxes have earned a double-digit win total dating back to the 1984 campaign.
On Senior Day, a pair of seniors Sean Sweeney and Brian Diele got things started, as Diele found Sweeney for the games first goal. Marist took a 2-0 lead 4:49 into the first quarter when Diele found Billy Duerr. Wagner's James Servidio would answer with back-to-back tallies, and only a goal from Keith Detelj with 18 seconds to play in the quarter would give Marist a 3-2 edge. The Red Foxes scored all three goals in the second quarter to take a 6-2 lead, as Detelj, senior Josh Ben-Eliyahu and Pat Van Horne netted goals.
Ben-Eliyahu started the second half with a goal, as Marist tallied three in the third quarter, with Tim Iuculano and Andrew Walsh touching net, to extend the lead to 9-3. Duerr added his second of the game in the fourth quarter while Chris Rooney and Mike McGuire rounded out the Red Foxes scoring in the contest.
Diele and Duerr led the Marist scoring effort with four points apiece, Diele on four assists and Duerr on two goals and two assists. Ben-Eliyahu and Van Horne each added three points, Ben-Eliyahu with two goals and an assist and Van Horne with two assists to go along with his goal. Steve Gravino made four saves in his 50:37 of action, and Shane Brennan had a save in his 9:23, allowing two goals.
Marist dominated the offensive flow of the game, out shooting the visiting Wagner team 42-16 for the game, and won the ground ball war 50-34. Marist did not allow a goal in its only man-down situation of the night. Both teams cleared the ball successfully 16 times, Marist had three failed clear attempts, and prevented seven attempts by Wagner. Each team won 11 of the 22 face-offs. Servidio led Wagner with two goals and an assist. Chris Sochacki had 11 saves in net, playing the entire contest. Mike Sciamanna had a goal and an assist for the Seahawks, as did Kevin Zulauf.
Marist returns to action on Friday, May 7th, when it takes on Manhattan in the MAAC Tournament, hosted by Canisius College. Marist is the top-seed, the Jaspers are the four seed, and official times and the conference office will announce official seedings on Monday.
