CENTER VALLEY, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's lacrosse team dropped its first match of the season, falling by a 6-5 final in a hard-fought non-conference match at DeSales University Wednesday afternoon in a matchup of 5-0 squads.
The Greyhounds, now 5-1 this spring, were led senior midfielder Austin Adams, who netted three goals to go with a pair of ground balls. Senior attack Jack Gozzard and senior midfielder Alec Oriolo each found the back of the net once for the Blue and Grey while senior attack Mark Laratta and junior attack Cade Siddron each had one assist. Laratta also had three ground balls in the contest.
Moravian senior goalie Kurt Dick made eight saves and added four ground balls in the contest while junior long stick midfielder Jimmy Schicke had four ground balls and three caused turnovers. Senior midfielder John Kerrison also scooped up four ground balls while senior Rick Guerra had three ground balls and was 7-for-15 on face-offs. Junior midfielder Peter Degnan and senior defender John Polich each had three ground balls with Polich causing three turnovers while Kerrison and senior defender Brian Biase each caused a pair of turnovers and sophomore defender Tanner Leslie had two ground balls.
The Hounds had a 33-32 edge in ground balls and also went 18-for-21 on clears out of the defensive end.
The Bulldogs scored the opening goal on a man-up situation with 8:01 on the clock while Oriolo would tie the score at 1-1 with 38 seconds left in the first quarter as the teams were all square after 15 minutes of action. DeSales scored the only goal of the second quarter 43 seconds into the period and would take the 2-1 lead into the intermission.
The Bulldogs scored first in the third quarter as well before a pair of goals by Adams knotted the score with 7:40 left in the third quarter. DeSales scored twice more in the period to hold a 5-3 advantage after 45 minutes of action.
The Bulldogs increased their lead to 6-3 with just over eight minutes remaining. Gozzard tallied at the 4:24 mark off of a feed from Siddron while Adams completed his hat trick off of pass from Laratta with 2:57 to play, making it a one-goal match; however, the Greyhounds were unable to get the equalizer.
Moravian is slated to return to action on Saturday, March 16 in a non-conference match at rival Muhlenberg College beginning at 1:00 p.m. in Allentown.
