WILKES-BARRE, PA (April 24, 2021) -- The King's College men's lacrosse team honored its six seniors before Saturday's home finale with the Warriors of Lycoming College, but six goals in the second quarter for the visitors was enough to propel Lycoming past the Monarchs 13-7 in action from McCarthy Stadium. 

King's (1-9, 1-6 MAC Freedom) was able to celebrate Charlie Alessi, Patrick Burnham, Michael O'Brien, Trevor Douenias, Gabe Vansuch and Ryan Candelori seniors prior to the contest with a ceremony at midfield, as parents and student-athletes were social distanced but still honored in traditional fashion. 

Once the game got underway, both teams struggled offensively as the defensive units dominated the first quarter to an scoreless opening stanza. The Monarchs would break through first just over three minutes into the second quarter, as first-year Ryan Barnes tallied his eighth of the season on a downhill shot to make it 1-0. 

Lycoming (1-9, 1-7 MAC Freedom) would answer with on back-to-back goals from Michael Scarponi to take the lead, but Barnes responded with a tally with help from Alessi to make it 2-2 with 9:32 left in the half. The Warriors seized the momentum after that, netting the next four goals capped by a Josh Hall transition goal to make if 6-2. 

King's would pull to within three just before the intermission for halftime, as O'Brien scored with 57 seconds left in the second quarter to make it 6-3 at the break. Turnovers were the problem in the first half for King's, as it turned the ball over 16 times while going 0-for-4 on clears in the second quarter. 

The two teams both scored a pair of goals in the third quarter, as King's pulled to within one at 6-5 after scored by first-year Joe Giannella and Vansuch. Lyco scored the next three goals finished by an Owen Zimmerman goal at 11:11 of the fourth quarter to make it 9-5. 

Giannella netted his second of the game unassisted to pull the Monarchs to within three at 9-6 but the Warriors would pull away with three more goals in earning their first win of the season. 

Giannella finished with a team-best three goals for the Monarchs Saturday, taking 20 shots on the day. The 20 shots in a game were the most for any player in the MAC Freedom this season, and the most-ever for a King's player in a single game. 

The Monarchs got two more goals from Barnes, and Alessi finished with two assists to pace King's. Douenias continued to dominate on draws, going 19-for-23 while adding 16 ground balls. The 19 face-off wins were the third-most in program history, while the 16 ground balls in a contest were the third-most as well. Douenias has 98 ground balls going into the MAC Freedom Tournament, four short of the single-season record of 102 help by Nick Foley in 2018. 

First-year Alex Tristan was the beneficiary of Douenias' draw wins, picking up eight ground balls as well. Fellow newcomer Jon Wiedow led King's with two caused turnovers and two ground balls, and Vansuch added five loose-ball pickups and a caused turnover. 

The Monarchs outshot their opponents 44-43 on the day, while Wall finished with a 17 saves in the loss. King's also controlled the ground ball column, 46-37, but turned the ball over 31 times to just the 15 from Lycoming. 

Scarponi finished with four points on two goals and two assists, and Zimmerman tallied twice to go with one assist for the Warriors. Dominick Massaro also found the back of the net three times, and Joe Corozzo and Zach Anderson each scored twice in the win for Lycoming. 

The Monarchs will play in the MAC Freedom Tournament next Saturday, May 1 at a place and time to be determined this week.