Marist men’s lacrosse (0-3) fell to 15th-ranked Jacksonville (2-1) by a score of 13-5 on Saturday afternoon on the road. Jacksonville was coming off a big win against eighth-ranked Duke and the Dolphins kept that momentum going, breezing past the Red Foxes.
Last game, Marist had a two-man rotation at faceoff with sophomore Dylan Bedell and senior Matt Fermo rotated the last game. In this game, the faceoff X was completely dominated by Bedell, who won 16 out of 21 in today’s game. Despite Marist winning the faceoff edge, the Jacksonville defense would cause turnovers and make saves all afternoon to keep Marist out of this game
Jacksonville’s best offensive player this season and leading point-getter senior midfielder Brandon Galloway who has had three goals in the first two games started off hot with two assists to graduate student attackmen Dylan Watson to give the Dolphins the early 2-0 lead. Jacksonville would tally another goal in the first quarter from freshman midfielder Gavin Angell making it 3-0
Marist would get the goal they needed, as Balcarcel would pick up a ground ball and score with 43 seconds left in the first quarter. In the first, Marist was getting shot opportunities as they had nine shots on goal, but couldn’t convert them.
It would take until halfway into the second quarter to get a goal from either side. Watson would score his third of the half, and graduate student attackmen Brendan McKenna and Galloway would all score in the second quarter.
Marist graduate student midfielder James Lyons would stop the bleeding as he would score his seventh of the season making it a four-goal Jacksonville lead. That lead would not last very long as Watson would score his fourth of the half with 40 seconds left in the half to make it 7-2 Jacksonville after 30 minutes.
It would not take long for Jacksonville to get on the board in the second half as a lackluster shot on offense turned into a transition goal from sophomore midfielder Bryce Wojnovich would score his second goal in two games, 8-2.
Bedell won the ensuing faceoff and scored a goal of his own making it an 8-3 Jacksonville lead. Any momentum the goal created didn’t last as redshirt junior attackmen Jacob Greiner and Galloway would score back-to-back goals to give Jacksonville the 10-3 lead.
Senior attackman Kellen Pulera would stop the drought as he would score his second of the season but the Dolphins had the response to make it a seven-goal game heading into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter started with an extra man goal from graduate student JoJo Pirreca cutting the lead down to six with 10 minutes left in the game. Jacksonville would answer right back as sophomore attackmen Jackson Intrieri and freshman midfielder Jack Taylor would score back-to-back goals giving Jacksonville its 13-5 final margin.
Goalie play has been rock solid for Jacksonville in the early parts of the season. Graduate student Luke Millican kept the ball rolling for his team with 15 saves today. Millican received a penalty early in the game so graduate student goalie Jason Yoquinto, an Albany transfer had to come in and hold the fort down which he did having three saves on the man down.
Marist sophomore goalie Noble Smith in his second career start had 13 saves today. Smith was solid today in the net and Saturday marked the first time in his collegiate career that he reached double-digit saves.
Marist is back in action next week against Bellarmine next Sunday. Faceoff is scheduled for noon at Tenney Stadium. This will mark the first matchup between the two schools.
Edited by Jonathan Kinane
Photo from Jonathan Kinane