Men’s Lacrosse Held by Merchant Marine on Wednesday

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Kings Point, NY| Despite three-goal efforts from senior Scott Reece and junior Casey Hickey, the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's lacrosse team was handed its third-straight Skyline Conference defeat on Wednesday evening after dropping a 12-8 decision to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

With the loss the Golden Eagles drop under .500 for the first time this season and sit at 3-4 on the year (0-3 Skyline) as the Mariners move to 4-2 (2-1 Skyline).

SJC owned the first quarter, outscoring USMMA 3-0 with tallies from senior Josh Shaw (8:48), Reece (5:33) and Hickey (:39), but the hosts quickly flipped the momentum and went for five goals in the second quarter to go up 5-3 at halftime.

Hickey's second mark of the game and 18th of the season cut the St. Joseph's deficit to one goal (5-4) 1:27 into the third quarter, but four-consecutive tallies by USMMA over the next six minutes allowed the Mariners to take a commanding 9-4 lead at 7:28 of the third.

After going down 10-5 1:12 into the fourth, man-up goals by Reece (9:57) and Hickey (9:09) brought the game back to within three (10-7), but consecutive strikes by USMMA with 4:30 and 2:58 to play reestablished the hosts' five-goal mark (12-7) before SJC's Jack Murray wrapped the evening's scoring at 2:14 (12-8).

St. Joseph's keeper Andrew Yoli faced 24 shots in the contest and made 12 saves, while USMMA's goaltending duo of Dave Ossing and Zac Tilley combined for 16 saves on 24 shots.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday, April 1 when they face Skyline Conference rival Farmingdale St. on the road in a 1:00 pm contest. Live stats for the game will be available here.