PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Pace University Men's Lacrosse delivered an explosive offensive performance on Tuesday afternoon at Northwell Stadium, defeating Saint Thomas Aquinas College, 20–10. The Setters scored nine goals in the first half and erupted for eight more in the third quarter to break the game open, improving to 4–1 overall.
Pace wasted little time establishing momentum.
Cody McClean opened the scoring midway through the first quarter before
Colin Reese added back-to-back goals to give the Setters a 3–0 lead. After the Spartans answered with a goal,
Will Danowski finished a feed from
Kieran Clifford in the closing minutes to push the advantage to 4–1 at the end of the first quarter.
The Setters extended their lead in the second quarter behind a balanced offensive effort. Danowski scored twice in the period while
Ian Wick added another goal to help Pace build a 6–1 advantage. St. Thomas Aquinas briefly trimmed the margin with two goals, but the Blue and Gold closed the half strong as Danowski and
Declan Landers each found the back of the net to give Pace a 9–3 halftime lead.
Pace broke the contest open in the third quarter with an eight-goal surge.
Cole Stevens started the run off an assist from Danowski before
Matt Baldino and Reese added consecutive goals to extend the lead to 12–5. The Setters continued to pour it on as
Trevor Lamoureux,
Nick Naccarato,
Zach Goetze, and
Jake Cenci all scored during the stretch, pushing the margin to 17–5 heading into the final quarter.
The Blue and Gold added three more goals in the fourth quarter from
Shae Linegar,
Nicholas Walano, and
Jack Mullery to close out the 20-goal performance.
Danowski led the Pace attack with four goals and one assist, while Reese recorded three goals and one assist. Naccarato added two goals and one assist, and Baldino contributed one goal and one assist as part of a balanced scoring effort that featured 14 different goal scorers. In goal,
Jack Kern earned the win with five saves.
Pace returns to action on Saturday, when the Setters travel to face Assumption University to open Northeast 10 Conference play. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
