The Mohawk Valley Men's Lacrosse team used a big five goal third quarter to defeat the Monroe Tribunes Friday evening at D'Alessandro Stadium. The Hawks got down 2-0 early in the first quarter but kept battling with freshman Dominick Gratch opening up the scoring for the Hawks with 3:55 remaining in the quarter to make it 2-1. Mohawk Valley would score twice early in the second quarter take a 3-2 lead over Monroe, but that was all of the offense the Hawks could muster in the quarter. The Tribunes would score twice halfway through the quarter and take a 4-3 lead into halftime. The Hawks scored five goals in the third quarter which saw Max Hunt score three times, Gratch add another and sophomore Ryan Mierek make a huge momentum play knocking down Tribunes goalkeeper Charlie Redwood's pass on a clearing attempt and then picking up it and backhanding it into the net to give the Hawks a 8-5 lead at the time. The 9th goal came early in the fourth quarter when Derek Ferrone used his quickness to get through and finish his fifth goal of the season. The Hawks would extend that lead to 10-5 when sophomore Will Kelly converted on a feed from sophomore Austin Millington on his third assist of the game. The Tribunes battled back to a 10-9 game when Gratch added his fourth goal of the night to cap of an 11-9 victory for the Hawks, giving them their first victory of the season. Hunt and Gratch each scored four goals, Mierek, Kelly, and Ferrone added the other three for the team.
The Hawk's defense was the anchor of this game giving the Tribune offense trouble by pressuring them all over the field. The starting defense for the game is the Holland Patent trio of Mierek and freshmen Jake Posello and Zion Snyder, all three protecting sensational sophomore goalie Ryan Quinn who had another spectacular game with 19 saves. The defense caused 20 Monroe turnovers with Mierek setting the school record with nine caused turnovers.
"This was a total team effort tonight. Every single player contributed something positive to this win. There were guys that didn't come off the field for 60 minutes, and there were guys that only got in for a handful of minutes. Everyone made the most of their opportunities when they were in the game. It was an exciting game that we felt very good about after a solid performance and coming up just short Wednesday night. We are in the middle of a tough stretch right now with so many games crammed into a short window, and for them to battle through the pain and soreness of their third game in five days is a testament to their dedication and hard work to this team. I am very proud of their effort and attitude and look forward to doing it all again next week, said Coach Evanoff."
The Hawks have another busy week this week hosting Herkimer on Monday 4/1 at 6:00pm, Hudson Valley on Wednesday 4/3 at 6:00pm, and then finishing the week with a trip to Genesee on Saturday 4/6 at 1:00pm. Home games are streamed live on Hudl.