COLCHESTER, VT. – Holding off a late charge from RV Saint Michael's College in the final quarter, the No. 10 Pace University men's lacrosse team took down the Purple Knights on the road, 15-11, Saturday morning.
The Setters improved to 10-1 overall and 6-1 in Northeast 10 play. Pace returns to action next at Northwell Stadium for the final time in the regular season to host American International College on Wednesday, Apr. 17 at 3:30 p.m.
SMC's offense was the one to start the scoring off, with Sebastion Simonson scoring the first two goals of the game in the first three minutes of play.
Rafael Rodriguez, Jr. and
Declan Landers returned the game to a deadlocked state shortly after but the home team once again called on Simonson and he delivered his third goal of the quarter to regain a slim 3-2 advantage with just under 11 minutes to play in the opening quarter.
The two teams traded goals one time until
Ryan Kemp scored his sixth goal of the week to tie the game and Landers took a feed from
Trevor Lamoureux to take the lead, 5-4. The high-powered first quarter would come to an end with one for the Purple Knights to make it a 5-5 affair at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was much quieter than the one that preceded it, with only four goals being scored but all coming from the Blue and Gold. Kemp fired back-to-back goals, followed by
Daniel Zabbia and
Colin Reese chipping in goals of their own to be on the right side of a 9-5 advantage at halftime.
The Blue and Gold outscored the Purple Knights 6-2 in the third quarter to take a comfortable 15-7 lead into the final 15 minutes. SMC made one final push in the fourth quarter, scoring four goals but the eight-goal hole was too much for the Purple Knights to overcome.
Kemp finished with three goals while Landers, Rodriguez, Jr.
Preston Kral, and Reese each contributed two goals.
Jack Kern earned the win while making an impressive 18 saves between the pipes.
Maxwell Streety crossed the 500 face-off win mark today, winning his 510th face-off with his 12 wins on the X today.
