ASTON, Pa. - The Neumann University men's lacrosse team was victorious in its home opener on Tuesday afternoon, taking down visiting Delaware Valley University by a score of 11-7 in non-conference action.
Rich Marshall was the offensive player of the game for the Knights, registering four goals in the win.
Brett McLaughlin (2 g, 1 a) and
Emmett Wexler (1 g, 2 a) each recorded three points, while
Drew Conlon (1 g, 1 a),
Mike Kiley (2 a) and
Sam Nice (2 g) each tallied two points apiece.
Kyle Daly led the team with nine ground balls and the pair of
Jake Methlie and
John McGrath dominated the draws by winning at a 70% clip on the day (14-for-20).
Jake Marchiafava was strong in goal with 10 saves.
Fresh off a season opening win in Virginia over the weekend, the Knights returned home looking to stay unbeaten on the season. Neumann kept its defensive momentum from Saturday going, shutting out the Aggies in the first stanza to make it two consecutive quarters going back to the weekend without allowing a goal. Along with the staunch defending, the Knight offense came to life, blitzing Delaware Valley for five goals in the first frame to lead 5-0 after the opening 15 minutes. Much like Saturday, the hosts received balanced scoring in the period, as five different goal scorers found the back of the net.
Sam Nice and Daly scored midway through the quarter before McLaughlin and Marshall tallied just seven seconds apart to make it 4-0 with 4:07 to play. Wexler capped off the dominating Neumann quarter by scoring with five seconds remaining to make it 5-0 after one.
The Knights continued to roll in the second stanza, scoring the opening goal through Marshall 1:20 into the period to lead 6-0. The rest of the quarter would go by quietly before Delaware Valley was finally able to crack the Neumann defense at the 4:51 mark of the frame to make it 6-1. The goal broke a stretch of 49:46 of playing time dating back to the season opener in which the Knights did not concede a goal. The Aggies got a second goal with just over a minute left in the frame to make it 6-2, but Neumann again took momentum into halftime as Marshall scored a buzzer-beater with just 0.4 seconds left on the clock to make it 7-2 Neumann at the break.
Delaware Valley would have the better of the play in the third quarter and began to make it a game. After Neumann scored two of the first three goals of the frame through Conlon and
Sam Nice to make it 9-3 at the 7:55 mark, the Aggies reeled off three straight markers to end the quarter with just a three-goal deficit with a score at 9-6 in favor of the hosts.
That was as close as the visitors would get on the afternoon though, as Neumann's stout defense again took over. The Knights conceded just one goal in the period and tacked on two more goals of their own via McLaughlin and Marshall to clinch the 11-7 non-conference win.
Neumann (2-0) will look to make it three straight wins to open the season when it plays host to visiting Wilkes University on Sunday, February 27th at 1:00 PM.
