Coming off a MAAC championship, Marist men’s lacrosse kept the good times rolling as they defeated the Stony Brook Seawolves 10-6 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday. The win is Marist’s first in the tournament since 2015, when current head coach Dave Scarcello was in net for the Red Foxes.
“They’ve earned every single bit of this and have come to work since our first day together in the fall,” Scarcello said. “With this in mind, the team set goals for themselves at the beginning of the year, and they continue to crush through those, so I couldn’t be more fired up for this team and excited about this group.”
With all eyes on Tenney Stadium, both teams’ defenses controlled the game early. The first quarter saw very few quality scoring chances, and both defenses caused four turnovers in the opening frame.
Stony Brook only managed two shots on goal, and had both denied by freshman goalie Richie Metzger.
There was very little offense, but when there was, it came from the Marist starting midfield line. After a slashing penalty on Stony Brook, junior midfielder Sean Mullan took advantage, scoring the first goal of the NCAA Tournament matchup.
Four minutes later, Marist’s captain came through. Senior midfielder Peter Murray buried one past the Stony Brook defense, extending the lead to 2-0.
That ended the scoring in the first quarter, and the second quarter continued at the same pace. Stony Brook finally broke its scoring drought after an unnecessary roughness penalty on Marist. Junior attackman Collin Williamson finally got one past Metzger at the 9:25 mark of the second quarter, putting Stony Brook on the board.
For the next six minutes, both offenses went back and forth, but nothing showed on the scoreboard. Both goalies were dialed in, making life difficult for each offense.
With less than five minutes left in the half, both offenses found some life. Once again, Murray came through for Marist, scoring twice in a span of 40 seconds to complete a first-half hat trick and give Marist a 4-1 lead.
Stony Brook responded instantly as junior Jake Lewis found the back of the net, slowing down the Marist momentum. The Seawolves cut the lead in half and headed into the locker room trailing 4-2.
As the third quarter began, both offenses came out flying. Marist scored two quick goals, including a beautiful finish by junior attackman Colin Patrick. Sophomore faceoff specialist Josh Smith cleanly won the draw and found Patrick, who shoveled the ball behind his back in one motion for the goal.
As the crowd came alive, Stony Brook attackman Collin Williamson quieted it down. He scored three straight goals for the Seawolves, slicing Marist’s lead to just 6-5. The Marist defense had no answer for him, as he seemed to get whatever he wanted offensively.
Eventually, the scoring flurry came to an end and both defenses settled back in. Stony Brook senior goalie Tommy Wilk made numerous saves in the quarter and finished the game with nine stops.
With the fourth quarter underway and Marist holding onto a narrow one-goal lead,Marist’s leading scorer added some insurance. Patrick tiptoed around the crease to score on the man advantage, giving the Red Foxes a 7-5 lead.
Minutes later, Murray followed with another goal. The senior finished the game with four goals and one assist, setting a season high in points.
“I think my teammates were great at drawing slides,” Murray said. “I was able to get down a couple alleys and take a couple decent shots. But I said it earlier, it’s really kudos to the defense. They allow us as offensive players to really get great shots and great possessions.”
As time wound down, Williamson continued his impressive night, scoring his fifth goal of the game and making it an 8-6 contest.
With time running out and Stony Brook down to its final chances, Metzger shut the door. From his knees, Metzger made one of the most incredible saves of the season, stopping a shot just below the crossbar.
“While he may have made the save of the year, we’ve seen stuff like that at practice,” Scarcello said. “He comes to work every single day. He doesn’t approach this like a freshman at all. He’s earned every bit of this success he’s had so far.”
With the fans in Poughkeepsie starting to feel the excitement, Patrick put the icing on the cake, scoring two more goals to make it a 10-6 game and finish with four goals total.
Marist went on to win 10-6, advancing to the first round. The Red Foxes will look to stay hot and upset the top-seeded Princeton Tigers on the road Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Edited by Max Rosen
Graphic and Photo by Quinn DiFiore
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