Loudonville, N.Y. - Junior's Matt Girsh and Mike Lashomb each produced hat tricks and totaled four points apiece in Siena's impressive 12-3 rout over Vermont this afternoon at a rain soaked Siena Turf Field. The win improved the Saints to 3-0 on the season as they continued their early season dominance and have now out-scored their opponents 37-11.

"I was very proud and pleased of the team's performance," remarked head coach Brian Brecht. "Their mental toughness to overcome the adversity of having to practice indoors due to the weather all of last week says a lot about their character to not allow distractions to hinder their performance on game day."

The Green and Gold wasted no time whatsoever as they scored just 14 seconds in off the opening face-off. Junior midfielder Kenny Mazzone streaked down the field and found the back of the Vermont net to give the Saints an early advantage. Siena would never trail in the game.

The Saints extended their lead to 5-1 after the first and 7-2 entering intermission in a game that was never in question. Lashomb recorded all three of his goals in the first 18 minutes of the contest.

In the third period, Girsh added two of his three goals as the Saints cruised to the 12-3 victory. Junior attackman Chris Zarins continued his hot start to the season, adding a pair more goals while Bryan Hale, Ryan Duggan and Shaun Dunn contributed the other Siena scores. Brent Herbst had another solid afternoon between the pipes, turning aside ten of the Catamounts' 13 shots on goal. Andrew Kelleher paced Vermont with a pair of goals and took 11 of their 25 total shots.

In an otherwise dominating performance, Siena won every major statistical category winning in shots (35-25), ground balls (31-26) and face-offs (11-8), while only committing 16 turnovers as opposed to 25 Catamount miscues.

Siena will return to action on Saturday for their first road game of the season at regional power Stony Brook. Game time is slated for 12 noon.

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LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. - Junior Matt Girsch, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year, scored three goals and an assist to lead Siena to a 12-3 victory over Vermont at Siena Field on Tuesday afternoon. Junior Andrew Kelleher (Delmar, N.Y.) scored twice for the Catamounts, who dropped to 0-3 on the season with the loss. The Saints, who were selected as the preseason favorite in the MAAC, improved to 3-0 with the victory.

Freshman Derek Lichtfuss (Lutherville, Md.) scored his second goal of the year for Vermont and freshman Geoff Worley (Coronado, Calif.) recorded two assists.

Junior Mike Lashomb added three goals and an assist for Siena while sophomore Brent Herbst made 10 saves to earn his third straight win.

Siena notched the first four goals of the game before Lichtfuss scored with 37 seconds remaining in the first quarter to make it 4-1. Lashomb answered with his second goal of the quarter with 12 seconds left to give the Saints a 5-1 advantage.

Kelleher had a man-up goal in the second and Siena scored twice in the quarter to make the score 7-2 at halftime.

Five straight goals to start the second half gave the Saints a 12-2 lead before Kelleher scored in the final 90 seconds to round out the scoring.

Kelleher finished with a team-high 11 shots and matched a team best in ground balls with three. Defensemen Aaron and Collin Shore (Ithaca, N.Y.) as well as Michael Watson (Albany, N.Y.) had three ground balls apiece.

Senior Justin Lubas (Freehold, N.J.) finished with 15 saves for the Catamounts.

Vermont returns to action on Friday at 3:00 pm at Dartmouth.

NOTES: Kelleher has a team best five goals on the season ... Siena out shot Vermont 35-25 ... Freshman Chris Hall went 7-for-14 on face offs ... Litchfuss and senior Trevor Wagar each had four shots ... Vermont leads the all-time series against Siena 6-2.

2008-03-04