ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca men's lacrosse team (6-6) dropped a 9-5 non-conference contest to visiting St. Lawrence (4-8) on Sunday afternoon at Higgins Stadium.

After jumping out to an early 2-0 lead and holding the Saints scoreless in the first period, Ithaca surrendered three straight goals to the visiting squad to trail 3-2 at 8:51 in the second period. Ithaca would score four minutes later to knot the game at 3-3 heading into intermission.

The Bombers regained possession of the lead at the 11:20 mark of the third stint, but St. Lawrence scored five unanswered to bridge the third and fourth periods and take an 8-5 lead with 11 minutes lingering in the game. Ithaca snapped their scoring skid with a goal at 7:48, but the Saints iced their victory with a goal at 3:46 to claim the 9-5 win.

Junior Tom Mongelli (Kinnelon/Kinnelon, N.J.) led the Bombers with two goals and sophomore Andrew Bruce (De La Salle/Lafayette, Calif.) scored one and added an assist. Junior Chris Duncan (Regis Jesuit/Denver, Colo.) scooped up a game-best five ground balls and senior Michael Silipo (Williston Northampton/Deerfield, Mass.) added four. Junior Brian DiBetta (John Jay/Katonah) won five of 11 faceoffs he attempted and tallied one goal for the Bombers.

Bruce opened all scoring at 9:26 in the first period before Mongelli snuck in a goal on a Bruce feed with just 42 seconds lingering in the first frame for a 2-0 gap. St. Lawrence netted three straight scores before Mongelli again found the back of the net for a 3-3 stalemate at the half.

DiBetta went unassisted at the 11:20 mark of the third stanza to regain a 4-3 Ithaca edge, but a Saints goal at 8:53 kicked-off five consecutive St. Lawrence scores as the Saints took the lead indefinitely.

Scoreless for more than 18 minutes, Ithaca tallied one final goal when freshman Trevor Lundblad (Forest Hills Central/Ada, Mich.) found freshman Casey Schattner (West Genesee/Syracuse) at 7:48. The Saints put the game away with a goal at 3:46 to finalize all scoring at 9-5.

Senior David Gal (Loomis Chafee (Conn.)/Amherst, Mass.) suffered the loss in goal making 15 stops in 45 minutes of action, while sophomore Luke Robinson (Fox Lane/Bedford) made three saves in the final 15 minutes of action.

Ithaca tallied 34 ground balls to the Saints' 26, while each squad won nine of 18 faceoffs.

The Bombers will next host Elmira on Wednesday, April 20 at 4 p.m.

Box Score