The Quinnipiac men’s lacrosse team dropped its second consecutive MAAC contest in an afternoon matchup at Mount St. Mary’s Saturday, losing 18-11 on Friday.

Graduate attackman Kelly Gouin opened up the scoring for the Mountaineers with a strike just 50 seconds into the game, his first goal of the season. Mount St. Mary’s got off to a hot start, jumping out to a 4-1 lead halfway through the first quarter, thanks in part to two more goals by Gouin.

Quinnipiac stormed right back, with goals from senior midfielder Joey Van De Veerdonk and junior midfielder Trevor Douglas falling within two minutes of each other to cut the deficit to one. The Mountaineers responded quickly, with Gouin adding his fourth of the game and the quarter to make it 5-3 Mount St. Mary’s.

The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair. The second quarter, however, was not.

Mount St. Mary’s faceoff specialists, senior Connor Beals, a Canisius transfer, and freshman Bobby Turso came alive at the faceoff dot, winning five consecutive draws to open the second quarter. The Mountaineers dominance off the draw set up a five-goal run to make it 10-3 with ten minutes left to play in the quarter.

Bobcats senior attackman John DeLucia, scored off a cheeky rebound right on the crease to cut the deficit to six, but the Mountaineers quickly responded with a goal from graduate attackman Mitchell Dunham, his 11th of the year.

After DeLucia’s goal with 9:37 left to play in the half, the Bobcats were held scoreless until the final three minutes of the period, with a point-blank goal from freshman attackman Justin Robbert ending the drought to make it 12-5 Mountaineers.

Quinnipiac’s offense struggled to find their rhythm all game. There was little penetration off the dodge, and of the 32 shots taken, 18 missed the net.

The Bobcats came out hot after the intermission, scoring two in the first three minutes to put Quinnipiac within five goals. Then, Mountaineers’ senior long-stick midfielder Steven Schmitt received a pass from junior defenseman Mitchell Dunham off the clear and fired a missile past the goaltender, senior Nick DiMuccio, to extend the lead yet again. 

Another Mountaineers goal made it 14-7. Then, Robbert scored his second goal of the contest off a silky shovel pass from DeLucia. After an interference penalty on Dunham, DeLucia made another nice play, going low to high on a top shelf snipe to make it 14-9.

The Mountaineers scored once more in the third in a relatively quiet end to the quarter, but began piling it on in the fourth, good for a final score of 18-11 in favor of hosts. With the loss, Quinnipiac dips below .500 for the first time this season.

Donnery, DeLucia, Douglas and Robbert were bright spots in an otherwise bleak afternoon for the Bobcats, each scoring two goals on the day except for Donnery, who had a hat trick.

The Bobcats head home for a matchup with MAAC opponent Siena next Saturday.