DAVENPORT, Fla. – Senior Mark Laratta (Budd Lake, N.J) scored three goals and two assists, including tallying an insurance goal with 21 seconds remaining as the Moravian College men's lacrosse team held off Wentworth Institute of Technology, 9-7, in non-conference action Friday afternoon at North East Regional Park.
With the win the Greyhounds remain undefeated, improving to 4-0 on the season while the Leopards slip to 2-3.
The Greyhounds got things started when Laratta scored his first of the contest 2:30 into the game. Wentworth evened the score at 1-all when senior Jacob Eldred (Goffstown, N.H.) scored just 35 seconds later. The game remained tied until Moravian took a 2-1 lead on a junior Cade Siddron (North Arlington, N.J.) goal at nearly the halfway mark of the frame.
Wentworth scored the only two goals of the second quarter to take a 3-2 lead at the half as Eldred tallied a man-up strike 7:43 left and sophomore Ben Coakley (Flemington, N.J.) scored 1:18 later.
Freshman Nick Gore (Salem, N.H.) gave the Black & Gold a 4-2 lead 18 seconds into the third quarter, however, Moravian scored the next six goals of the quarter and took an 8-4 lead with 1:126 left in the stanza. Laratta had a goal and an assist during the run.
The Leopards began a fourth quarter comeback with three straight markers. Gore scored at the 10:19 mark to make it 8-5, sophomore Andrew DiPalma (West Orange, N.J.) made it 8-6 with 7:01 remaining, and junior Kyle Doner (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) made it a one-goal game with a man-up goal with 4:50 remaining. After a shot was saved by sophomore Randy Ryan (Clinton, N.J.), Wentworth got the ball back with 1:43 remaining. The Leopards successfully cleared the ball and called time out with 1:27 remaining. However, a turnover gave the Greyhounds the ball back with 48 seconds left, which led to Lanatta's insurance goal.
Siddron also had a multiple-point game for Moravian, scoring twice. Both junior Jimmy Schicke (Boonton Township, N.J.) and senior Kurt Dick (Hatboro, Pa.) scooped up five ground balls while senior John Polich (Moorestown, N.J.) caused for turnovers, including the one which halted Wentworth game-tying attempt.
Eldred had two goals and an assist for Wentworth while Coakley had a goal and two assists and Gore finished with two goals. Sophomore Tom Rockwell (Andover, Mass.) scooped up a team-high four ground balls while sophomore Danny Bartosiewicz (North Grafton, Mass.), junior Jake Berry (Beverely, Mass.), and senior Jeff Gore (Salem, N.H.) caused two turnovers apiece.
Dick made 16 saves for Moravian while Ryan stopped nine shots for Wentworth. Wentworth had 49-26 shot advantage in the contest.
Wentworth is at MIT on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.
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