UDC Men’s Lacrosse Suffers Road Loss at Molloy

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's lacrosse team was defeated by Molloy College, 15-6 in East Coast Conference play Saturday afternoon at Rockville Centre Sports Complex.

The Firebirds (3-6, 1-4 ECC) were led offensively by sophomore attack Zach Hart's team-high two goals, and junior midfielder LaRon Hinton's one goal and one assist. Junior midfielder Teilen Celentano, who was 8-of-22 on faceoff attempts with a team-high six ground balls, also added one goal.

Defensively, junior midfielder Syrrus Nash led the team with three caused turnovers, and sophomore goalkeeper Nikolas Lund-Murray stopped 15 of 30 shots faced in a complete game effort.

The Lions (6-4, 2-3 ECC), who received votes for the USILA/Nike Week 7 Division II Coaches Poll this week, have now won three of their last four games. Molloy had three players register five points offensively: attack Tim Steinman (three goals, two assists), attack Connor Slane (three goals, two assists), and Casey Kelly (two goals, three assists).

Defensively, Mike Durkin and Jack Matthews tied for a game-high with four caused turnovers, and starting Molloy goalkeeper Ryan Toomey earned the win today with eight saves and five goals allowed in nearly 53 minutes of work. Andrew McDougal came on for the final seven minutes and stopped one of two shots faced.

The hosts won 17 of 25 faceoffs, won the ground ball battle, 43-25, had five fewer turnovers (24-19), and were a perfect 19-of-19 on clear attempts compared to UDC's 10-of-17.As a result, the Lions more than doubled-up the Firebirds, 52-25 in shots and doubled-up UDC, 30-15 in shots on goal.

The Firebirds did, however, convert 3-of-5 extra-man opportunities offensively, and defensively, held Molloy to 2-of-6.

A Molloy turnover less than a minute into the game led to a UDC breakaway and a Celentano goal to put the Firebirds up, 1-0 early. Slane responded for Molloy a little shy of two minutes later, and the Lions went on to score five unanswered goals to close out the 1^st quarter.

In the 2^nd quarter, Singleton and Nash each scored unassisted goals at 11:22 and 6:05, respectively, as UDC out-scored Molloy, 2-1 through more than 10 minutes of play. The Lions went on to tack on two more goals, however, and took an 8-3 lead into halftime.

Molloy went on to out-score UDC 4-1 in the 3^rd quarter and 7-3 in the 3^rd and 4^th quarters combined as they eventually won by a nine-goal margin.

Hart, the ECC's 2^nd leading scorer, broke through for a goal at the 5:51 mark in the 3^rd quarter, and he scored the game's final goal with 3:35 remaining in regulation. Hinton, the ECC's top scorer, managed to split the Lions defensive unit and beat Toomey for his only goal of the game on seven shots early in the 4^th quarter.  For the season, Hinton now has 44 points on 33 goals and 11 assists, and Hart has 36 points on 32 goals and four assists. Singleton's goal today gives him 30 points this season with 16 goals and 14 assists.

The Firebirds will look to end their five-game losing streak on Saturday, April 15^th as they host ECC foe Roberts Wesleyan College at 4:30 p.m. The game will be played at Woodrow Wilson High School.