LEXINGTON, Va. – Joshua Balcarcel and
Sean Mullan tallied a hat trick apiece to propel the Red Foxes past MAAC foe VMI, 14-10, on the road inside Drill Field #2 on Saturday afternoon.With the win, the Red Foxes have clinched a spot in the MAAC Championship.
The Red Foxes were led by Balcarcel's four goals and two assists for six points on the afternoon, while Mullan added three goals of his own in the victory.
With the victory, Marist improved to 8-6 on the campaign and 5-4 in the MAAC, while VMI fell to 7-8 in the 2024 season and 3-6 in conference play.
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- Marist struck first and fast as Peter Murray put one home just 14 seconds into the contest to give the Red Foxes an early advantage.
- Murray found the net again shortly after on a feed from Joshua Balcarcel to extend the Marist lead to two.
- Aiden McCaffrey added to the total after picking up a ground ball and then scoring on his own to increase the lead to 3-0 with 11:16 left in the opening frame.
- Leading 3-1, Balcarcel scored his first goal of the game, followed by a score from Dylan Bedell just five seconds later to boost Marist's lead to 5-1.
- Balcarcel scored one more time before the end of the frame to extend the Red Foxes' lead to 6-1 entering the second.
- VMI scored back-to-back goals to open the second quarter, cutting the Marist lead to 6-3 with 9:53 left in the first half.
- Sean Mullan stopped the Marist drought after Collin Patrick found him to put the Red Foxes ahead 7-3.
- Marist outscored VMI 2-1 the rest of the way to take a 9-4 lead into the half.
- VMI scored two straight goals to open the second half to cut Marist's lead to 9-6.
- The Red Foxes responded with back-to-back goals from Jake Deacy and Christian Colantonio to extend the lead to 11-6.
- Keenan DeRaeve added to the lead with a goal of his own to push ahead 12-6.
- VMI closed the frame with two more goals to cut Marist's lead to 12-8 entering the fourth.
- Balcarcel secured the hat trick to open the fourth, extending the lead to 13-8.
- After VMI cut the score to 13-9, Mullan put one home to extend the lead to 14-9.
- The deficit proved to be too much for VMI, as Marist held on for the 14-10 win.
- Balcarcel led the offense with four goals and two assists for six points
- The hat trick marked the fifth of the season for Balcarcel
- Mullan added three goals for a hat trick
- The hat trick was the third of the season for Mullan
- Seven other players added a goal apiece for Marist
- Aiden McCaffrey scored a goal and added two caused turnovers
- McCaffrey has totaled a program-record 33 caused turnovers this season
- His 63 caused turnovers ties the program's career record
- Noble Smith made 15 saves in the victory
