Box Score MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Southern New Hampshire University men's lacrosse team fell to No. 10 Molloy College, 12-6, in nonconference action at Larkin Field on Saturday. The Penmen move to 1-5 overall, while the Lions improve to 5-1 thus far in 2015.
Junior Cameron Joyce (Braintree, Mass.) led the Southern New Hampshire attack with two goals and an assist, and sophomore Keifer Heckman (Peabody, Mass.) chipped in with a pair of goals in the setback.
After Molloy took a 1-0 lead just over 30 seconds into the first quarter, senior Cory Allen (Suffield, Conn.) took a feed from graduate student Phil LaTorre (Londonderry, N.H.) and buried his 10th of the season to even the score with 10:56 to play. The Lions regained the lead 3:08 later on a goal from Peter Clark, and built a 3-1 edge at the end of one on Tom Graef's fourth of the year.
Southern New Hampshire opened the second stanza with a pair of goals to knot the score at three. Joyce brought the Penmen back within one on a man-up goal from senior Jeremy Buckley (Norwell, Mass.) 2:46 into the quarter. Just under three minutes later, senior Matthew Auger (Nashua, N.H.) set up Heckman for a man-down strike to tie things up with 9:15 left before the half. 23 seconds after Heckman's goal, Tom Engelhardt collected his second score of the afternoon to push Molloy back ahead by one. Clark added his second of the day with less than three minutes to go in the second, and the Lions carried a 5-3 lead into intermission.
Midway through the third, Southern New Hampshire again closed the gap to a single goal. Heckman netted his second of the game to make it 5-4 with 8:23 to go in the frame, before goals from Joe Leonard and Austin Valenti gave Molloy a 7-4 lead heading into the fourth.
The Lions ran off the first four goals of the final quarter of play to take an 11-4 advantage with 6:07 remaining. Senior Zack Kellogg (Londonderry, N.H.) broke through for the Penmen at 5:41 with a man-up goal from Joyce. After Leonard made it 12-5 less than 30 seconds later, Joyce notched his second of the afternoon with 34 seconds remaining to provide the 12-6 final.
Sophomore Patrick Goff (Nashua, N.H.) corralled six groundballs for Southern New Hampshire, and senior Crosby Nicholson (Andover, Mass.) raked in four and stopped 10 shots in the Penmen cage.
Leonard finished the game with three goals and three assists to lead Molloy and Engelhardt added two goals and three helpers in the victory. Ryan Toomey earned the win between the pipes for the Lions after making 15 saves and pulling in seven groundballs.
Southern New Hampshire returns to action on Tuesday when it takes on Assumption College at 7 p.m. in a Northeast-10 clash on Larkin Field. The Lions resume play next Saturday when they host Seton Hill University at noon.
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