Contact: Mike O'Brien
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Quinn Moroney '16 recorded six points but the 12th-ranked Amherst College men's lacrosse team fell short in a hard-fought NCAA second round matchup against ninth-ranked Union, 17-11 at the Frank Bailey Field.
With the loss, the Jeffs' impressive season comes to an end as they finish the year with a 15-5 overall record and 7-3 NESCAC mark. The team's 15 wins tied a program record set in 2011 and were led by Moroney and senior Devin Acton. With six more points added to his season total, Moroney's 112 points are the most in the Jeffs' modern era, almost doubling the previous mark of 68 set by Derek Cherney '07 in 2005. Acton concludes a terrific career with 222 points in four years, the highest career point total in the modern era as he finished with a career-high 57 goals this year. With the win, Union advances to the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 15-3 ledger.
Moroney led the Jeffs with four goals and two assists. Matt Killian '17 tallied two scores while five others netted one. Johno Gibbons '15 recorded seven ground balls and won 19 faceoffs. Greg Majno '14 started in net for Amherst and stopped 14 shots.
The Dutchmen were led by Rob Santangelo '14 who posted identical numbers to Moroney with four goals and two assists while Charlie Ross '15 netted three scores and three others tallied two. Union goalie Stefan Basile '15 made 15 saves between the posts for the win.
Amherst came out hot to start the game as Moroney notched his 29th goal of the season in just under two minutes of action. Shortly after, Moroney found Matt Killian '17 for the score as the Jeffs took a 2-0 lead at the 11:43 mark of the first quarter.
Union evened the score minutes later when Ross scored off an assist from Jonathan Andrews '14 and Santangelo connected with Richard Gregory '15 to tie it at 2-2 with 5:02 remaining.
Less than a minute later, Gregory gave the home team its first lead of the game, which lasted just six seconds as Gibbons won the faceoff and quickly found the back of the net. Before the first quarter ended, the Dutchmen scored twice including a goal from Gregory with three seconds remaining as the home team held a 5-3 lead after one.
Union increased its lead to three early in the second quarter on a goal from Ross but scored just once more before the half. With three goals from the Jeffs including Moroney's second of the game, which cut the deficit to one with 2:09 to go, Union held a 7-6 lead at the break.
Within 21 seconds of the second half, Amherst tied the game when Devin Acton '14 found Aaron Mathias '14 for his 36th of the season. After consecutive Union goals increased the margin to two, Amherst responded with their eighth and ninth scores of the game just nine seconds apart to even the score at 9-9.
The final 20:51 of play was all Union as they outscored the visiting Jeffs, 8-2 en route to the 17-11 win. Moroney cut the deficit to two early in the fourth with his sixth point of the game but the Dutchmen rallied off four straight to close out the contest.