Feb. 20, 2010
Box Score
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Lafayette men's lacrosse team got the 2010 season off to a quick start and showed great poise when Fairfield fought back in the second half to grab a 15-10 win in Saturday's season-opener.
The Leopards scored the first four goals of the game, including the game's first goal from senior co-captain Steve Serling, who made his return from a 2009 injury that sidelined him for the season. His return saw him tally a game-leading five goals and three assists.
Following Serling's opening goal, off an assist from his brother Colin, Stefan Bauer found Tom Perini to give Lafayette a 2-0 advantage just over three minutes into the contest.
With 9:25 remaining in the opening quarter, Bauer notched a goal of his own, using an assist from senior co-captain Matt Mersky. Bauer returned the favor, notching his second assist of the game to find senior Chris Ahern and quickly the Leopards led 4-0 with 4:19 left in the first quarter.
Fairfield responded with two goals to close the opening 15 minutes before another Steve Serling goal pushed the Leopard lead back to three (5-2). Fairfield answered with three of the game's next four goals, including one with 13 seconds left in the half to trim the Leopard lead to 7-6 at halftime.
Following two Fairfield goals to start the second half and give the Stags its first lead of the afternoon, Lafayette made its run and showed the poise you expect from an upperclassmen-laden team to break the game open.
Two goals to end the third quarter scored, one each from the Serling brothers, along with a man-advantage Mersky tally to open the fourth quarter pushed the Lafayette lead back to two (10-8) with 14:04 left in the game.
After a Stag goal cut the lead back to one, the Leopards answered with three consecutive even-strength goals, the first from senior Brett Djaha, followed by two-straight from Perini.
A man-advantage goal from Mersky and even-strength goal from Steve Serling ended the Leopard scoring, capping a 6-2 fourth quarter advantage and an impressive 15-10 season-opening victory.
Senior Vinny DePasquale turned in a solid, double digit save performance between the pipes for the Leopards, totaling 14 saves on the afternoon.
Both teams committed 12 turnovers, while the Stags held a slight advantage in groundballs (33-31). Both teams won 14-of-28 face-offs, but it was the Leopards' face-off dominance from junior Cesar Munoz in the final quarter (8-for-8) that sparked the 6-2 quarter.
Lafayette returns home and has a week to prepare for its second game of 2010 at Binghamton on Saturday, Feb. 27. Face-off is set for 12 p.m.
