Owings Mills, Md. – The Villa Julie College men's lacrosse team outscored St. Mary's College of Maryland, 5-2, in the fourth period to post a 13-10 Capital Athletic Conference victory in the Mustangs' season-opener Saturday afternoon. Today's contest was a rematch of last year's CAC semifinal between St. Mary's and VJC in which the Seahawks came out on top, 8-7.

The Mustangs' sophomore attackman Steve Kazimer (Syracuse, N.Y./Henniger) exploded for three of his five goals in the fourth quarter, including a pair in 55 seconds. The game was knotted 8-8 after three stanzas before Villa Julie (1-0, 1-0 CAC) rattled off three straight to boast an 11-8 advantage with 11:39 left in the contest.

Freshmen Dennis Rosson (Severna Park, Md./Severn) and Chris Morihlatko (Arnold, Md./Broadneck) put the Seahawks (1-1, 1-1 CAC) within 11-10 with 9:43 remaining. However, Kazimer netted an unassisted goal at 5:28 and then assisted on the Mustangs' final tally at 3:42 to seal the 13-10 win for VJC.

The Mustangs took a 3-1 lead after the first frame following two goals and an assist from Kazimer. St. Mary's came back in the second quarter, outscoring VJC 4-2 with a pair from Morihlatko.

Both squads netted three goals apiece in the third period. Rosson scored twice for the Seahawks, while sophomore attackman Richard Ford (Baltimore, Md./Towson) had two for Villa Julie.

Junior middie Marc DiPasquale (Joppa, Md./Boys' Latin), a preseason All-American, won 15-of-25 face-offs as the Seahawks claimed a 16-of-26 advantage of face-offs.

The Mustangs outshot St. Mary's 39-34, but the Seahawks won the ground ball war 37-36 as junior All-American Brian Wallace (Landenberg, Pa./Avon Grove) scooped up a game-high nine loose balls.

For the Seahawks, Rosson notched five points on four goals and an assist, while Morihlatko had a hat trick.

Kazimer finished the afternoon with a game-high seven points on five goals and two assists for the Mustangs, while sophomore attackman Jimmy Dailey (Westminster, Md./Winter Mills) had a goal and three assists.

Junior Eric Fleegle (Easton, Md./St. Peter & Paul) made 12 stops in the win while freshman Pat Simpson (Arnold, Md./Broadneck) had 11 saves in the Seahawk loss.

St. Mary's will return to action on next Wednesday when the Seahawks travel to Glen Mills, Pennsylvania to face Neumann College at 7:00. The game will be played at Garnet Valley High School.

Box Score

2008-02-23