DOLAN’S GAME-WINNER LEADS NO. 5 MEN’S LACROSSE TO 8-7 VICTORY AGAINST NO. 5 MERCYHURST

Box Score vs. Mercyhurst - April 11, 2009

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Apr. 11, 2009) - Knotted at 7-up with less than a minute left in the contest, junior midfielder Matt Dolan (Plainedge, N.Y.) of the fifth-ranked Molloy College men's lacrosse team registered the game-winning goal with 36 seconds remaining to lead the Lions by the also fifth-ranked Lakers of Mercyhurst College, 8-7, on Saturday afternoon at the Dean G. Skelos Sports Complex in Rockville Centre, N.Y. Senior midfielder Keith Galante (Plainedge, N.Y.) gave the feed off to Dolan on the play.

With the assist, Galante recorded his 45th point of the season. He is now tied with former player Dom Toscano (Bethpage, N.Y.) for the all-time mark in points with 166 in a four-year career at Molloy. Toscano competed at Molloy from 2004-07. In the history between the two teams, this is the first time since 2005 that the Lions beat the Lakers. On April 24 of that year, Molloy recorded a 13-12 overtime win versus Mercyhurst.

The squads headed into the final quarter knotted at six. Four-plus minutes in, freshman attackman Ryan Kudlek (Oceanside, N.Y.) gave the Lions (8-1, 2-1 ECC) the lead as he sent a ball into the back of the net on a pass from Galante. But, at the 7:51 mark, the Lakers (9-2, 3-1 ECC) responded with a tally from the stick of junior midfielder Kyle Plante (Watertown, N.Y.). Plante slung a ball from the center of the box in the back of the cage after junior attackman Michael Dugan (Cortland, N.Y.) found him from behind the net.

Trailing 1-0 with under 10 minutes to go in the opening stanza, Mercyhurst posted three goals in a two-minute stint to go ahead 3-1 with 6:17 left. Dugan got things going with a goal off a pass from senior midfielder Mike Thon (Penfield, N.Y.). Freshman midfielder Ian Wild (Pittsburgh, Pa.) closed the spurt with an unassisted marker. Molloy answered though with two straight to finish out the quarter in a 3-3 stalemate. Sophomore midfielder Tommy Susko (South Hempstead, N.Y.) and Dolan each had an even strength tally.

The Lions out-scored their opposition 2-0 in the second quarter to head into the intermission up by a two-goal margin. Junior midfielder Albert Maione (West Islip, N.Y.) and Kudlek collected their first tallies of the game during the period. However, the Lakers came out firing at the start of the third. Thon and junior midfielder Tyler Burton (London, Ontario) earned markers in a span of two minutes to tie the score (5-5) for the third time in the match.

Dolan, Kudlek and Maione led the way with two goals apiece. Kudlek also raked six ground balls, while Dolan amassed three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Galante dished out three assists. He also recorded three ground balls. Senior midfielder Peter Bonelli (Commack, N.Y.) collected eight faceoff wins and eight ground balls.

Senior defenseman Mike Dilena (Massapequa, N.Y.) added five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Senior goalie Robert Humann (Hicksville, N.Y.) came up big in the net with nine saves. He also picked up two ground balls.

For Mercyhurst, seven different players posted one goal. Thon claimed nine faceoffs and eight ground balls. Senior defenseman John Paige (Lafayette, N.Y.), senior midfielder Mike Bartlett (Orchard Park, N.Y.) and junior midfielder Charles Saylor (Baltimore, Md.) notched three ground balls each. Between the pipes, senior goaltender Jason LaShomb (Rush, N.Y.) turned aside a game-high 13 shots.

Overall, the Lions owned a 33-28 margin in shots and a 37-33 edge in ground balls. On faceoffs, the Lakers were 11-of-19 (57.9 percent). Molloy was successful 42.1 percent (8-of-19) of the time in the faceoff department. In clears, the Lions were 12-for-26 (46.2 percent), while the Lakers owned a clear percentage of 52.6 (10-for-19).

Head Coach Joe Catalanotti and his squad return to action this Wednesday when Molloy continues its three-game homestand at the Dean G. Skelos Sports Complex versus Northeast-10 Conference opponent Pace University. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. If you are unable to make it to the game, you can follow all of the progress via Live Stats at http://livestats.prestosports.com/molloy.