BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's lacrosse team fell behind 4-0 just over eight and a half minutes into action before rallying for a 12-9 non-conference win over visiting Hood College at Rocco Calvo Field Wednesday afternoon.
Freshman attack Mark Laratta led the Hounds with four goals and two assists for six points while freshmen midfielders Alec Oriolo and Christopher Klodowski each had two goals and an assist. Freshman attack James Carroll netted two goals while freshman attack Jack Gozzard and freshman midfielder Jake Burcaw each scored once.
Freshman goalie Kurt Dick improved to 2-0 in goal with 11 saves and two ground balls while junior defender Ed Delia had a team-high five ground balls while causing four turnovers. Freshman defender John Polich caused five turnovers in the match to go with four ground balls.
"We're a team loaded with freshman and for many of the guys, it was the first time that they've had to play after classes and taking midterms. That caused us to come out a little flat and not focused, hence going down 4-0," stated Head Coach Dave Carty. "What I can say is at least they snapped back, and they kept playing. The defense started to make some adjustments as we slid early and kind of stopped them. I think one of the big adjustments was going up to two poles on the face-off so they would stop breaking us on those plays. We weren't as disciplined as we'd like to be, and I thought we made too many mental mistakes but we're young so we'll adjust and keep getting better."
After falling behind 4-0, Carroll would get Moravian on the scoreboard with 4:49 left in the first quarter. The goal was the first of five straight for the Hounds as Burcaw tied the match at 4-4 with a man-up goal at the 10:08 mark of the second quarter and Oriolo put Moravian ahead just 23 seconds later. Hood would net two goals before Klodowski scored at the 2:12 mark as the teams headed to halftime tied at 6-6.
The Blue and Grey scored the first three goals of the third quarter with a man-up goal from Carroll just 2:20 into the period giving the Greyhounds the lead for good. Moravian led 10-7 after 30 minutes of action and pushed the lead to 12-7 on Oriolo's second goal with just 2:09 to play.
The Hounds scored on both of their man-up opportunities when Moravian's defense killed off six of seven man-down attempts.
The Greyhounds are scheduled to return to action on Saturday, March 5 in a non-conference match at Keystone College beginning at 1:00 p.m.
