Lafayette Makes Statement with Win over Navy

from press releases

EASTON, Pa. - In a battle of two nationally-ranked teams, the No. 15 Lafayette men's lacrosse team opened its Patriot League slate with a 15-8 statement victory over No. 17 Navy on Friday night.

Lafayette scored 10 second-half goals, including four straight to open the third quarter/. The Leopards, who improved to 5-0 on the year and 1-0 in conference action, came into the game averaging 14.0 goals per game and thanks to seven different goal scorers, Lafayette scored 15 goals for the third time this season.

"I'm disappointed with the result," said Navy head coach Richie Meade, whose Midshipmen came into the game with a flawless 10-0 record against the Leopards. "I was impressed with them and how they played on both sides of the field. They are a dangerous team because of how well they move the ball and their offense has a great feel for one another.

"We had plenty of chances to score in this game, however when we needed to shoot the ball well, we failed to do so. It's tough to play from behind and we struggled to put a few goals together."

It was the Mids that jumped on the scoreboard first, taking a 1-0 lead at the 13:49 mark of the first quarter. Following the goal, Lafayette used a man-advantage opportunity to knot the game at one on an unassisted goal from reigning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week Tom Perini.

From there, the Leopards took control. Goals from Colin Serling (Stefan Bauer assist) and senior Chris Ahern off a Colin Serling pass gave the Leopards a 3-1 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Another Navy penalty was capitalized by Lafayette with 14:07 left in the second quarter when Colin Serling racked up an unassisted goal to give the Leopards a 4-1 lead.

After Navy cut the Leopard lead to one (4-3), senior Kevin Dunbar gave Lafayette the momentum going into halftime with an even-strength goal with 20 seconds remaining off a Steve Serling assist.

Following intermission, Dunbar kicked the third quarter the same way he ended the first half, this time an unassisted goal to jump the Leopard lead back to three. Nine seconds later, junior Cesar Munoz took one of his 16 face-off wins into the Navy defense and found the back of the net, giving Lafayette its largest lead of the night at 7-3.

Goals from Perini and Steve Serling pushed the Leopard lead to six (9-3) with 9:45 remaining in the third quarter. Another Perini tally, his third of the evening, sandwiched two Midshipmen goals to cap off the quarter.

As the rain fell harder, the Leopards continued to pour it on. A man-down goal from Dunbar and even-strength goal from senior co-captain Matt Mersky, both unassisted, gave Lafayette a 12-5 lead with exactly 11 minutes left on the clock.

The two teams exchanged goals from there, each scoring three times in the remaining minutes, with Lafayette goals from Colin Serling, Ahern and Perini's fourth and final goal of the night for the 15-8 Leopard victory.

Senior goalkeeper Vinny DePasquale turned in arguably his best performance yet as a Leopard, racking up 17 saves on the evening. Munoz was sensational in the face-off "x", winning 16-of-26 on the evening.

A telling stat of the night, Lafayette dominated the ground ball battle 41-26. Munoz (9), senior Stewart Inman (6) and defenseman Spencer Philpot (5) paced the Leopards.

Lafayette will enjoy the win for the weekend before returning to practice on Monday to prepare for another league challenge. The Leopards travel to Bucknell on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.

Notes
Perini's four-point night moved his scoring streak to 19 games. He and teammate Matt Mersky both stand at 94 career points... Lafayette moves to 5-0 overall, its best start in school history.