SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The No. 19 Pace University men's lacrosse team led for most of the game against No. 2 Le Moyne College on Wednesday, and put the nation's top-ranked scoring defense to the test, but a third-quarter surge pushed the Dolphins past the Setters, eventually giving the home team an 11-7 win in Wednesday's Northeast-10 Conference matchup at Ted Grant Field. The Setters fall to 7-3 overall and 3-2 in NE-10 play, while Le Moyne remains undefeated at 10-0 and 6-0.
Tuesday's matchup turned into a defensive battle, especially in the first half. Junior
Peter Sharp (Airmont, NY/Suffern) scored the first goal of the game, giving the Setters the lead just four minutes in. Sophomore goalkeeper
Robert Beshlian (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) played a spectacular game, which started with nine first-quarter saves. Le Moyne's Jack Vajda managed to get the Dolphins on the board with 28 seconds remaining in the first frame, tying the game at one goal apiece.
Pace took advantage of an extra-man opportunity early in the second, as sophomore
Anthony Gadaleta (Kings Park, NY/Kings Park) netted his 21st goal of the year at the 11:40 mark to make it a 2-1 game. Le Moyne's Bailey Wilkinson quickly tied it just 44 seconds later. Sophomore
Liam Brennan (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) then got Pace going again at the 7:40 mark, and Sharp followed it up five minutes later with his second of the game to make it a 4-2 Pace lead heading into halftime. Beshlian had stopped 10-of-12 shots to that point, while the Setters scored on 4-of-10 shots on net.
Le Moyne proved that it deserved its No. 2 ranking in the third quarter, as the Dolphins made the proper adjustments during the break and went on a five-goal run to take a 7-4 lead after three periods. Freshman
Matt Golden (Princeton, NJ/South Brunswick) halted the run at the 9:08 mark of the fourth quarter to get the Setters back within two. Wilkinson scored again for Le Moyne, but freshman
Bradley Paterson (Caldwell, NJ/Depaul Catholic) and Sharp scored back-to-back goals just 37 seconds apart to make it a one-goal game. The nation's top defense then locked down for the final 6:44, and the Dolphins managed to score three more goals during that time frame, leaving the home team with the 11-7 win.
Beshlian made a season-high 18 saves in an impressive effort, but he took the loss to fall to 7-3 on the year. Goalkeeper Alex Krawec, who led all of Division II with a 4.84 goals-against average heading into the game, allowed seven goals and made 12 stops to improve to a perfect 10-0.
Sharp led the Setters with three goals on Wednesday, his second hat trick in the last three games. He has scored eight goals over the past three games. Brennan, Paterson, Golden and Gadaleta all added a goal. Graduate
Kevin Cox (Brightwater, NY/Bay Shore / Manhattan College) and freshman
Vincent Vasheo (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) each handed out an assist. Junior
Jeremy Wiley (Port Jefferson Station, NY/Comsewogue) had a strong defensive game, picking up a team-high five ground balls and causing a game-best three turnovers.
Brian Rogers registered a game-high five points on three assists and two goals to lead the Dolphins. Logan Thomas scored three times, while Wilkinson scored twice and helped another. Zac Cooley scooped up seven ground balls.
After a tightly-contested matchup on the road with the No. 2-ranked Dolphins, the Setters will look to start a new winning streak when they return home on Saturday, April 9, to take on Southern New Hampshire University in another NE-10 matchup. The game is set to begin at 12 p.m. at Pace Stadium.
For all information regarding Pace University men's lacrosse, log on to
www.PaceUAthletics.com, follow Pace Athletics on Facebook (
T-Bone, Official Mascot of Pace University Athletics), and follow the men's lacrosse team on Twitter (
@PaceLacrosse) and on Instagram (
@PaceUnivLax).
