The Morrisville State College men’s lacrosse team remained undefeated in conference play Saturday as they collected a 13-6 victory over Hilbert College on Senior Day in Morrisville.
The win lifts the Mustangs record to 7-2, 4-0 in North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) action. Hilbert drops to 4-6, 2-3 in conference play with the loss.
Hilbert was first to strike on the day, posting the first tally at the 9:34 mark on an unassisted tally by Matthew Simon before Morrisville State went on a four-goal run to claim the 4-1 lead after the opening quarter.
Louie Geswaldo (Lafayette) started the Mustang scoring with an unassisted tally at 7:30 before Brad Biggs (Tully) collected his first of the day a mere 28 seconds later. Geswaldo posted back-to-back tallies, the first at 6:21 before collecting a thrilling around the back score at the 3:13 mark for his third of the day.
In the second, Morrisville State was limited to just one tally, a Corey Grace (Penn Yan) goal off the cross-field feed from Zach Palin (Lafayette), as Hilbert keeper Brenden Deady posted 11 saves to keep the Mustangs from increasing their lead.
Hilbert took advantage of a Mustang slashing penalty with 1:20 to go in the second, sending the game into the half with a 5-2 host lead.
Morrisville State broke out to a 10-3 lead after the third, going on a five-goal run over the final 11 minutes of the quarter.
In the fourth Geswaldo extended the lead to eight goals for the hosts before Hilbert was able to answer. In just over a minutes time, it was the senior that struck again with one of the most memorable goals in Mustang history, as Geswaldo rifled one past Brendan Deady to become the all-time goals leader in program history, netting his 111th career score.
Morrisville State’s Eliud Evans (Culver City, Calif.) added to the lead with 3:32to go in the quarter as the Mustangs ran past Hilbert by a 13-6 final score.
Senior Chris Fiore (Staten Island) made five stops in the victory for the Mustangs, before being replaced by Dan Sherlock (Tully) for the final four minutes of the contest.
Morrisville State dominated Hilbert offensively, outshooting the Hawks 68-20, while collecting a dominating 21-2 win at the center stripe. Scott Augustine (Saranac Lake) and John Petriello (Carmel) went a combined 19-for-20 on faceoffs on the day.
Geswaldo led Morrisville State with six goals, while teammate Logan Peters (Yorktown Heights) contributed two. Sherlock, Evans, Brad Biggs (Tully), Kyle Shannon (Stanhope, N.J.) and Corey Grace (Penn Yan) each added one.
Morrisville State returns to the field Wednesday, traveling to Route 20 Rival Cazenovia for a 4 p.m. NEAC faceoff.
Prior to the contest, Morrisville State honored its senior class, acknowledging the accomplishments of Geswaldo, Evans, Sherlock, Fiore, Augustine, Petriello, Chad Izyk (North Syracuse), Richie Fischer (Rochester), CJ Underwood (Cincinnatus) and Mike Millis (Seneca Falls).