BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's lacrosse team rallied from a four-goal first quarter deficit to post a 15-12 win over Alvernia University in non-conference action on John Makuvek Field Tuesday afternoon.
"We came out flat and went down early. We don't play well in the first half, so we have to fix that," commented Head Coach Dave Carty. "It might be a young thing but we need to figure it out before we play Drew on Saturday."
Sophomore attack Mark Laratta led the Greyhounds, who are 5-5 overall, with four goals and an assist while sophomore midfielder Austin Adams netted four goals as well. Sophomore attack James Carroll added a hat trick while sophomore midfielder Alec Oriolo contributed two goals and three assists. Sophomore midfielders Hayden DuPont and Rick Guerra each netted a goal while sophomore midfielder AJ Cioffi added an assist.
Sophomore goalie Kurt Dick made six saves in the win while Guerra won 11-of-22 face-offs to go with four ground balls. Freshman long stick midfielder Jimmy Schicke added four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers while sophomore defender John Polich caused four turnovers and added three ground balls. Laratta and DuPont each added three ground balls while Carroll had two ground balls to go with a pair of caused turnovers.
The Crusaders scored the only goals in the opening 15 minutes of action and led 4-0 after the first quarter.
Moravian answered with three goals to begin the second quarter with Carroll netting two goals and Laratta pulling the Hounds within one at 4-3 with 6:25 before the intermission. Alvernia netted a goal with 3:36 on the clock and headed to halftime leading 5-3.
Adams and Oriolo scored in the first four minutes of the third quarter as the Blue and Grey tied the contest at 5-5. The teams traded goals the rest of the quarter before Laratta scored with less than a second on the clock in the third quarter to give Moravian a 9-8 advantage after 45 minutes of action.
Alvernia knotted the score at 10-10 just over a minute into the fourth quarter but Adams would give Moravian a lead it wouldn't relinquish at the 10:12 mark. Oriolo tallied a goal and Laratta scored twice more as the Greyhounds built a 13-9 lead. DuPont scored with 3:17 to play and Adams added a man-up goal with Moravian on a two-man advantage with 2:42 to play to seal the victory.
The Greyhounds are slated to return to action on Saturday, April 15 in a Landmark Conference match at Drew University beginning at 1:00 p.m.
