Box Score

The Muhlenberg men's lacrosse team showed plenty of heart in its home opener, coming back from an early four-goal deficit to go ahead in the third quarter. But Scranton scored four times in the final period to walk away with the win, 11-8. 

Junior Brad D'Alessandro scored a career-high four goals and added an assist for the Mules (0-2).

Scranton, which came within a goal of making the NCAA Tournament last year, broke an early 2-2 tie by scoring four goals in a span of less than six minutes. Two man-up goals by D'Alessandro and one by senior Steven Casella (pictured above), mixed in with one by Scranton, brought the Mules to within 7-5 at halftime.

Sophomore Joey Hess netted his first goal of the season with 8:51 left in the third quarter to make it a one-goal game, and sophomore Will Walter squeezed in his first career goal a little more than two minutes later to tie the score. D'Alessandro gave Muhlenberg its first lead, at 8-7, when he scored with 2:32 to play in the third.

The Mule defense was outstanding in the third, keeping the Royals off the board. In fact, Scranton went more than 30 minutes without scoring before netting the tying goal with 9:17 left in the fourth quarter. The Royals went ahead a minute later and added two more goals to pull away.

Senior Kyle Larkin made 11 saves, while junior Matt Parker and sophomore Kevin Bergenty picked up five ground balls apiece. Freshman Brandon Miller was 4-for-8 on faceoffs and picked up three ground balls.