Box Score

NEWBURGH, NY- In a game that featured seven ties and lead changes, it was host Mount Saint Mary that came out on top with two late fourth quarter goals to defeat the Hartwick men's lacrosse team 16-15 on Tuesday afternoon. The game was rescheduled from February 26 due to weather conditions.

The Hawks fell behind 4-1 in the first quarter. The Knights won the opening face-off and scored just 15 seconds later to take the early 1-0 lead. They would score again on a man-up opportunity to go up 2-0 at 12:31. Hartwick got on the board on a Mike Vaglica (Newton, MA/Newton North) to Sean Brown (Pleasantville, NY/Pleasantville) goal 50 seconds later but the Mount scored twice more to lead 4-1 after the first period of play.

'Wick rallied in the second frame tallying four straight goals, with three coming from Cody Petillo (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North), to overtake the Knights and lead 5-4 at the 10:56 mark. Mount Saint Mary rattled off three goals to retake the lead and go up 7-5 with 4:12 left on the clock. The two teams would exchange goals in the final four minutes of the quarter as the home team led 9-7 at halftime.

The Knights increased their lead to three goals early in the third stanza on Shaun McMahon's fifth goal of the afternoon. The Hawks answered back with another four-goal outburst to retake the lead and go ahead 11-10 at 6:27. The Blue Knights countered with a three-goal run to go up 13-11 heading into the final quarter.

The fourth period was a tense battle as the lead changed hands three times. 'Wick began the period with three scores to take back the advantage and go ahead 14-13 with 8:14 left to play in the contest. Mount tied it up at 14-all at 7:34. The Hawks again would go up by one score on an unassisted goal by Brown at 6:14.

The Blue Knights netted the third tie of the period at 2:27 and then took the lead for good with a score at 1:33. Mount Saint Mary won the ensuing face-off, but Kevin Rourke (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach) forced CJ Cardo to turn the ball over and picked up the ground ball with 40 seconds to play. Hartwick cleared the ball and called a timeout with 30 seconds left to potentially tie the game for the fourth time in the stanza.

Roy Simmons (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) got a shot off that went high of the cage with 15 seconds remaining. 'Wick maintained possession but a Simmons' turnover with four ticks left gave the ball back to the Blue Knights who ran down the clock to pull out the victory.

Cody Petillo netted a season and career-high four goals to lead the Hawks. He also had two assists. Brown added three goals and one assist. Vaglica, Zach Gropper (Syosset, NY/Syosset) and Nick Oliver (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) all had a pair of scores each. Simmons and Evan Petillo (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North) both scored once. Michael Rourke (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach) had eight saves in goal.

The Knights were led by McMahon and Jake Robison's five goals. Cardo had a hat trick. Joseph Rizzotti, Sebastian Cina Jr. and David Hobbs notched one goal apiece. Connor Haran stopped 10 shots in goal.

Hartwick lost despite leading in both shots, 42-33, and in ground balls, 54-41. The 54 ground balls tied a season-high. Taylor Lee (Germantown, NY/Red Hook) had a team-high nine ground balls and won 20 face-offs.

The Hawks also tied a season-high in caused turnovers with 12. Kevin Wahl (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale) led 'Wick with three and also had six ground ball pickups.

Hartwick concludes its 2014 season on the road against Alfred on Saturday. Game time will be at 1 p.m.