Trinity Men's Lacrosse Explodes in Second Half to Put Away Skidmore

Scott Morgan '19 won 16-of-22 faceoffs and scooped up 12 ground balls in the win. Recap, photo courtesy of Trinity College.

Hartford, Conn. - Trinity outscored the Skidmore, 7-2, in the second half as the Bantams knocked off the Thoroughbreds, 11-7, on Tuesday evening in men's lacrosse action. Trinity got three goals a piece from senior captains Seth Bird (Concord, Mass.) and Ryan DeSimone (St. James, N.Y.) while freshman Scott Morgan (Grand Rapids, Mich.) won 16-of-22 faceoffs and collected 12 ground balls to pace the Bantams in the victory. Trinity improves to 4-9 overall while Skidmore drops to 5-9.

The Thoroughbreds took a 5-4 lead into the half after starting the game on a 4-0 run but weren't able to hold off a relentless Bantam attack that put up 46 shots on the evening. Sophomore Cody Legeza (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) led the Thoroughbred offense with two goals on seven shots while RJ Caruso (Burlington, Mass.) tallied a goal and two assists, but Skidmore was unable to get anything going on offense in the second half against a Bantams defense that locked down after halftime.

Skidmore wasted no time getting things going in the first quarter as goals from Jack Curry (Holliston,
Mass.) and Kevin Mulvey (Westfield, N.J.) put the Thoroughbreds up 2-0 with less than two minutes off the clock. Freshman Eric Megnia (West Barnstable, Mass.) added the third Skidmore goal at the 8:57 mark in the first before Legeza's first goal roughly three minutes later gave the visitors a four goal advantage. DeSimone ended the run less than 30 seconds after Legeza's goal as he ripped a shot past Skidmore goalie Chris Baughan (Foxboro, Mass.) and followed that with a slick pass that sophomore Jack Sharrio (Marblehead, Mass.) put in the back of the net to cut the deficit to two.

Bird scored two straight Trinity goals to start the second quarter to make it a 4-4 game before a Skidmore goal from Caruso found its way past Bantam senior goalie Henry Coote (Wayne, Pa.) to give the Thoroughbreds the one-goal lead at the half.  

Legeza scored out of the half for Skidmore to extend their lead to two, however four straight Bantam goals gave Trinity back the lead for good. Junior Gus Ackley (Upper Arlington, Ohio) found twine at the 6:39 mark followed by another goal from DeSimone. Senior captain Michael McQuiston (Greenwich, Conn.) put the Bantams ahead, 7-6, with less than four minutes to play in the third frame before DeSimone's third and final goal of the game opened up a two-goal lead.

A quick goal from sophomore Brendan Halloran (Pleasantville, N.Y.) gave the Thoroughbreds some momentum to open the fourth quarter but Trinity's defense put the clamps on for the remainder of the game and did not allow another goal. Sophomore John Caraviello (Wellesley, Mass.) scored with less than nine minutes left to put Trinity up 9-7 before a highlight-reel goal from Morgan extended the lead to three. Morgan won the faceoff following Caraviello's goal and raced into the attacking zone unharmed before he fired a shot into the top shelf of the goal. Bird's third and final goal of the game with 7:14 to play put the exclamation mark on the evening for Trinity.

Senior captain Danny Badolato (Boonton, N.J.) led Trinity's defense with three caused turnovers to go along with two ground balls while junior Aidan Keohane (Westwood, Mass.) chipped in two caused turnovers and four ground balls. Coote stopped eight shots for the Bantams in the win while Baughan finished the evening with 15 saves for Skidmore.

Trinity returns to action on Saturday for a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) matchup at home against Hamilton. The game is set for 1 p.m. when the Bantams will honor the members of its senior class before the game.