Marist men’s lacrosse suffered their second consecutive defeat in a wire-to-wire loss to Sacred Heart on a rainy Wednesday night 12-7.
The Red Foxes (4-5, 1-3 MAAC) got blitzed in the first half, trailing 5-0 after the first quarter and 10-1 at halftime. Marist then scored six straight goals between the third and fourth periods to attempt a comeback. However, their efforts fell short and Marist fell to 1-3 in MAAC play.
Senior attackmen Tucker Spencer scored five points for Sacred Heart (6-4, 4-0 MAAC), and freshman midfielder James Moran poured in three goals. Six other Pioneers found the net to win convincingly over the reigning MAAC champions.
The Pioneers were 4-1 at home and winners of three straight entering the game while the Red Foxes had lost three of their last four games.
Sacred Heart came ready to play, sprinting out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter. Senior goalie Alex Pazienza made saves when Marist generated any offense and came out of the net to pick up two ground balls. The Red Foxes struggled offensively with several turnovers.
Spencer tucked away an extra man goal with under a minute left in the first quarter. Marist offered no answers to Sacred Heart’s onslaught and committed three penalties in the opening 16 minutes of play.
After Sacred Heart scored the first eight goals of the game, senior attackmen Joshua Balcarcel got Marist on the board with a crease finish with 10:35 left in the second quarter.
Junior defender Sully MacMurphy entered the game in the second quarter in place of sophomore defender Joshua Arneson as Marist tried to make defensive adjustments.
The Pioneers scored their 10th goal after a long-range shot by sophomore long-stick midfielder Michael Amoruso. He picked off Marist goalie Noble Smith’s outlet pass and sent a shot from half-field into the back of the net.
Marist trailed 10-1 at the half with Sacred Heart dominating the game in every facet. The Pioneers doubled the Red Foxes in shots and went 3-4 on the extra man. Marist committed nine turnovers in the half and did not score on their two extra-man opportunities.
Spender led Sacred Heart with four points (1G, 3A) and three other Pioneers poured in two goals each.
Marist head coach Keegan Wilkinson pulled Smith at halftime and junior goalie Bryant O’Donnell stepped in for the second half.
Marist scored three unanswered goals in the third quarter where freshman attackman Sean Mullan capped the run with an individual dodge to the cage with under a minute left in the period.
The Red Foxes held on defense and limited Sacred Heart to just one goal where O’Donnell made four saves.
Marist junior face-off specialist Dylan Bedell opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a goal in six seconds. Junior attackman Jake Deacy followed Bedell minutes later to cut the deficit to five goals.
Sacred Heart called timeout after graduate student midfielder Stephen Bickel extended the Red Foxes scoring run to 6-0.
Moran provided an answer and completed his hat trick for Sacred Heart scoring its first goal in 22 minutes of game time. Sacred Heart salted the game away to finish the all-around win.
The Red Foxes have some soul-searching to do after another tough loss. With five games remaining, Marist’s opportunity to be in a better position ahead of the MAAC playoffs shrinks.
Miscues titled the game away from Marist from the jump as they committed seven penalties, and 17 turnovers and allowed Sacred Heart to score four out of seven times on the man-up.
Marist returns home to face Manhattan College on Saturday, Mar. 30. Opening faceoff at Tenny Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Edited by Danny Destler
Photo and graphic from Jaylen Rizzo
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