WILKES-BARRE, PA (February 24, 2024) -- The King's College men's lacrosse team fell to the River Hawks of Susquehanna in their home opener. The end score was 15-5 on Saturday afternoon in McCarthy Stadium. The Monarchs begin the season 0-1 and the River Hawks become 1-1 overall.
 
Susquehanna's Jared Tavernite won the opening faceoff as the River Hawks went on to score the first goal of the game at 12:21 by Jack Gillard. Susquehanna scored two more goals in five minutes to put them up 3-0 at 8:13. Geno Casceillo (Sr.) won his faceoff to allow the Monarchs a scoring opportunity. The Monarchs pestered the River Hawks, but the visitors found the back of the net three more times to end the first quarter 6-0.
 
The second quarter was much like the first as King's battled hard, searching for some momentum. The Monarchs forced a shot-clock violation with 2:57 left on the clock. Susquehanna maintained their lead as they scored back-to-back goals by Jack Gaillard to go into halftime 10-0.
 
Casceillo won his sixth faceoff starting the third quarter and stayed in enemy territory for three minutes seeing multiple shots by King's. Ryan Lynch (So.) netted his first goal of the season at 7:58 to put the Monarchs on the board. Four minutes later, John Wall (Jr.) followed up with his own tally with an assist by Lynch to make the score 11-2. The River Hawks answered back with another goal, but King's maintained their edge and Ben Spencer (Jr.) found the back of the net at 2:04 with the assist by Ryan Barnes (Sr.). Susquehanna was able to put down the Monarchs as they scored the last goal of the quarter by Brennan Lorence. King's evened the third quarter scoring 3-3 and headed into the fourth down by 10.
 
It was 13-3, Susquehanna's lead starting the fourth and final quarter. The Monarchs were not going down without a fight as they stayed on offense for much of the first five minutes and witnessed a stellar goal by Barnes at 9:27 to make it 13-4. The River Hawks wasted no time after a faceoff win and connected at 8:41 by Kieran Thomas. It remained scoreless for four minutes when Spencer netted his second goal of the afternoon at 3:17 with a man-up. King's were able to stay on offense in the final seconds but fell to Susquehanna 15-5 as time expired. The Monarchs tied the fourth in scoring 2-2.
 
King's totaled 33 shots, 19 shots on goal, 28 ground balls, and were 11-23 in faceoffs. Casceillo was 8-16 in faceoffs with five ground balls. Ryan Dolphin (Jr.) had a team high of eight ground balls and Spencer led the squad with two goals. Jackson Campbell (Sr.) had nine saves on the day in net.
 
Susquehanna ended with 35 shots, 24 shots on goal, 21 ground balls, and 12-23 in faceoffs. Lorence had a game-high of four goals with two ground balls. Matthew Faggioli followed with his own three goals and two ground balls. Jared Tavernite was 7-10 in faceoffs for the River Hawks. Both Jozef Korpics and Augie Grantatelli had six saves each in goal. 
 
The Monarchs are back in McCarthy Stadium at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, February 28^th to take on Neumann. The crew will then have their first road test at Rosemont on Saturday, March 2^nd with a scheduled time for 1 p.m.