WILKES BARRE, Pa. - The Neumann University men's lacrosse team got back to its winning ways on Saturday afternoon at King's College, grabbing a resounding 16-3 road victory in non-conference action.
Drew Conlon was a one man wrecking-crew for the Knights, accounting for more than half of their offense with seven goals and two assists for nine points.
Vincent Corbino (3 g) and
Emmett Wexler (3 g, 1 a) each tallied three times in the win, while
Mike Kiley (1 g, 4 a) led the team with four assists.
Brett McLaughlin led the team in both ground balls (9) and caused turnovers (4), while
Jake Marchiafava and
Mike McAleer combined for 7 saves in goal.
The Knights jumped all over the Monarchs from the opening face-off. Corbino scored 1:12 into the game, followed up by a tally from Conlon at the 12:46 mark to give Neumann an early 2-0 lead. King's cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal midway through the frame, but it would be the only highlight for the hosts in the opening quarter. The Knights would find the back of the net twice more in the frame to take a commanding 4-1 lead after one. A
Max Nice marker at 3:38 gave Neumann a two-goal edge before Conlon capped off the quarter with a tally with just two seconds remaining to widen the lead to three.
The visitors kept on rolling into the second stanza, dominating much of the period with the first three goals. Wexler got the scoring started in the quarter with Neumann's fifth goal of the contest at the 7:56 mark, followed up by goals from Corbino and Conlon to make it 7-1 with 4:42 left to play in the half. The Monarchs were finally able to break a quarter long goalless drought with just over a minute left in the frame to get back within five, but Conlon struck again late in the period with 28 seconds on the clock to send the matchup to halftime with the score 8-2 in favor of the Knights.
John McGrath set the tone for another authoritative period of play for Neumann in the third quarter. The freshman face-off man won the opening draw off the half, raced downfield and buried his second goal of the season just five seconds into the stanza to make it 9-2. Neumann then added four more unanswered goals in the frame to take a comfortable 13-2 lead. Conlon scored three of those four goals, while Wexler also found the back of the net in the five-goal flurry from the visitors. The Monarchs got one goal back in the final minutes of the quarter, but trailed by ten heading into the last 15 minutes of the contest.
With the game out of reach in the final frame, the Knights kept plugging away. Neumann scored three times in the opening three minutes of the quarter via goals from Kiley, Corbino and Wexler to make it 16-3. The visitors took their foot off the pedal from there, running out the clock while continuing to play stellar defense on their way to the emphatic 16-3 victory.
Neumann (4-1) will stay on the road for its next game Wednesday, March 9th when the team heads to Goucher College. The opening face-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM in Baltimore.
