WILKES-BARRE, PA (March 6, 2021) -- Visiting Lebanon Valley College posted a big first quarter Saturday in the opening game for both teams, tallying seven times to push the Dutchmen past the Monarch men's lacrosse team 13-7 in action from McCarthy Stadium Saturday. 

In a contest 355 days in the making, the Dutchmen saw a new face do most of the early damage as first-year Jake Bollinger scored four goals with an assist in the first 10 minutes of the game. King's saw senior Trevor Douenias split up those five LVC goals with his first tally of the contest, posting an unassisted score to tie the game at one with 11:54 showing on the clock. 

The Dutchmen finished the first quarter with two more scores, as Jack Kapcsos posted back-to-back goals to make the score 7-1 going into the second period. After a goalkeeper change, King's seems to settle down and started defensively though couldn't break through offensively. 

Senior Gabe Vansuch scored his first of the game to start the second quarter on a nice pass from first-year Joe Giannella but two more from Bollinger sent the game to half with LVC leading 9-2. After halftime, King's started to hit its stride defensively as Douenias posted an unassisted goal followed by a man-up goal from Michael O'Brien to trim the LVC lead to six with 1:33 to go in the third. 

Lebanon Valley answered with back-to-back goals to make the score 12-4, but King's once again refused to go away on two more goals from O'Brien sandwiching a tally from Vansuch to trim the LVC lead to five at 12-7. That was as close as the Monarchs would get through, as Bollinger scored his seventh of the day to register the final margin of victory. 

O'Brien was King's leading goal scorer with three on nine shots total, adding four ground balls. Vansuch finished with two goals and two assists, and Giannella added two assists in his first collegiate game. Douenias continued his strong face-off play from 2020, as he went 16-for-22 in addition to his nine ground balls and two goals.

First-year Ryan Barnes finished with four ground balls, while senior Patrick Burnham and newcomer Jon Wiedow each had two ground balls and a caused turnover. John Shaffer added two caused turnovers for the Monarchs, while Ryan Candelori and Andrew Trainer logged three ground balls for King's. Sophomore Joe Plachcinski sparked King's in relief in net, playing 45 minutes while making 17 saves and allowing just six goals. 

Bollinger tallied nine points to lead all scorers for LVC (1-0), taking 16 shots, while Kapcsos also posted three goals and eight ground balls. Michael Fisher led the Dutchmen with three assists, and Nick Coyle totaled six ground balls and two caused turnovers. Goalkeeper Nick Serrano stopped 12 shots in the win for the visitors. 

King's will finish its season-opening home stand next Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., hosting No. 9 York College of Pennsylvania in McCarthy Stadium in more MAC crossover play.