Chase Malatesta and Mark Mahoney each contributed six points, as the No. 11 St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team downed the Golden Flyers of Nazareth 16-11 in their home opener on Saturday afternoon in Canton, N.Y.

Malatesta had five goals and an assist, while Mahoney scored a hat-trick and assisted on three others. Ben Hutchinson was the third Saint to record a hat-trick, and Judge Murphy had a pair of goals and three assists, while scooping up three ground balls.

The Saints scored the opening five goals to gain control early, but the visitors stopped the run with two of their own. After the opening 15 minutes, the Saints led 8-3. Each team scored a pair of second quarter goals and the Scarlet and Brown led 10-5 at the half.

The Golden Flyers scored three of the first four goals to start the second half and get within three, but Malatesta scored three straight for the Saints to close the third quarter and start the fourth, extending the lead back to six. Nazareth outscored the Saints 3-2 over the final 10 and a half minutes, but St. Lawrence held on to win 16-11 to remain undefeated.



"It was another good start for us, which was helpful," said head coach Mike Mahoney. "Hats off to Naz for competing hard for the entire game. They made us earn every opportunity we had. We are looking forward to our upcoming road trip beginning with the Mustang Classic on Friday. That will be a great test for this team."

The hosts outshot the visitors 42-29. Eric Almquist made 16 saves for Nazareth, and Michael Marinello made five saves to earn the win.

Paddy Condon and Brendan Brigham shared faceoff duties, and gave the Saints possession on 24 out of 31 tries. The Saints also came up with more ground balls, winning 48 compared to Nazareth's 21. Condon accounted for a dozen of them, while defensemen Joe Scarfi and Tripp Clark each grabbed four.

St. Lawrence improved to 3-0, while Nazareth dropped to 1-5.

The Saints next game is against the University of Lynchburg in the Mustang Classic on March 17th in Owings Mills, Maryland.