On a cold, gloomy day at Tenney Stadium, Marist Men’s Lacrosse defeated Mount St. Mary’s in a convincing 16-9 victory to start MAAC play.
Marist’s out-of-conference schedule saw them struggle early before finding their footing. They lost their first two games against Mercer and Yale, but then defeated Binghamton and Air Force to bring their record to 2-2.
“I think it’s big coming off a win last week and going into this week, just keeping the momentum up and playing as a team,” said junior attacker Steven Cain.
This season came with big expectations for the Red Foxes, as they were selected to finish second in the MAAC preseason coaches poll, where they also received three first-place votes.
Marist performed well last season, finishing fifth in the MAAC and reaching the semifinals of the conference tournament, where they lost a heartbreaker, 15-14, to rival Siena.
Marist’s opponent, the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers, coming into the game 1-4, looked to improve on last season, where they finished seventh in the conference and missed the tournament. They were picked to finish fifth, which would qualify them for the conference tournament.
The win for Marist came off the excellent offensive attack, which prevented the Mountaineers from having many scoring opportunities. Marist’s freshman goalie, Richie Metzger, also played his part, holding the Mount scoreless in the first half with four saves. This was the first time Marist held their opponent scoreless in the first half since 2016.
“Yeah, I think that’s one of the rare things in lacrosse, you don’t see a lot of shutouts, especially, you know, for an entire game, but to do it for a half is huge by the defense and our goalie in Richie Metzger. He saw a lot of good shots that we want to be giving up, and the defense executed the game plan at a really high level,” said Marist head coach Dave Scarcello.
The first possession of the game set the tone for the Red Foxes. With only 40 seconds off the clock. Mullan found sophomore attacker Brady Dolan on the right side of the net, who took a quick shot, scoring his sixth goal of the season.
Marist refused to let up the entire game; their bench was loud every time a Moutaineer touched the ball, disrupting their rhythm. As the quarter came to an end, Cain and Dolan found the back of the net, giving Marist a 4-0 lead.
The second quarter saw Marist pour on even more. On the first possession, junior attack Collin Patrick scored his first goal of the day.
Cain continued to keep the pressure on the Mount, adding two more goals in the quarter, giving him a first-half hat-trick. Marist added two more goals, extending their lead to 9-0 at the break.
The Mountaineers came out of the half looking to rally back. Preseason all-conference junior attacker Brady Atkinson knocked in a goal and added an assist as the Mount cut the lead to 9-3. He finished the day with five goals.
Marist’s win came on the backs of strong offensive performances from multiple players. Patrick and Brady each notched another goal, giving the Red Foxes three players with hat-tricks. Cain also continued to contribute, adding another goal and three assists. He came into the game with six points for the whole season; he finished with seven on the afternoon.
“I think we’re in need of that right now. We’ve been pretty top-heavy from the offensive side of things, and we know guys are capable of putting the ball in the back of the net,” said Scaracello.
Marist returns to action on Saturday when they travel to North Andover to play Merrimack. Opening faceoff is set for 1 p.m.
Edited by Nate Shoemaker
Graphic by Xavier Angel
Photo from Marist Athletics
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