SCRANTON, PA (March 6, 2024) -- The King's College men's lacrosse team gain their first win of the season against the Pacers of Marywood. The Monarchs (1-2) were able to outlast the Pacers (1-3) 6-5 on a rainy Wednesday night.

The opening quarter saw both teams battle in their even matchup at Pacer field. King's stayed in enemy territory for much of the first five minutes after forcing several turnovers, though their hosts were able to cause a shot clock violation. Marywood's Nick Ericson found the back of the net to put the first tally on the score board at 9:03. The Monarchs were able to stay strong defensively towards the end of the first to keep it a one-point game going into the second quarter.
 
King's started the second with a faceoff win by Geno Casceillo (Sr.) to set the tone. After a failed clear attempt by the Pacers, John Wall (Jr.) netted an unassisted goal to even the score at 1-1. The Monarchs forced a turnover two-minutes later and witnessed Redmond Cahill add a tally at 10:25. King's defense had the edge and made the Pacers get a shot-clock violation which turned into another goal for the Monarchs at 7:35 by Joe Giannella (Sr.). The teams went back-and-forth for the remainder of the quarter when Ryan Lynch (So.) scored at the 10-seconder marker. Marywood capitalized their faceoff win and scored at 0:04. Going into halftime King's were in the lead 4-2.
 
The Monarchs maintained their momentum seeing Ryan Barnes (Sr.) connect Giannella for his second goal of the night at 14:11. With a turnover by the Pacers, Giannella gained a hat trick after a goal at 12:47. The Monarchs continued to pester their enemy throughout the remaining minutes of the quarter. King's outscored Marwood 2-0 to end the third 6-2.
 
In the fourth and final quarter, the Pacers were not going down without a fight and went on a 3-0 run in the first 10 minutes of play. The Monarch defense buckled down as the hosts were hunting for a goal to tie the game. King's took over with six seconds left on the clock after a defender blocked a Marywood shot to seal the 6-5 win.
 
King's finished with 35 shots, 28 ground balls, caused 11 turnovers, and went 6-14 in faceoffs in coach AJ Bungert's first win in the Monarchs' second season under his leadership. Giannella paced the offense with three goals. Wall had four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Casceillo earned six faceoff wins with four ground balls. Junior Ardila (Sr.) and Lynch each had three caused turnovers. Jackson Campbell (Sr.) had 13 saves for the night in net.
 
Marywood ended with 35 shots, 39 ground balls, caused 10 turnovers, and went 8-14 in faceoffs. Ericson earned three goals, one assist, seven ground balls, and won eight faceoffs. Dalton Gerver, Nick Baker, and Zach Pramik all caused two turnovers each. Gavin Ammlung had five saves in goal.
 
The Monarchs will be back in action on Saturday, March 16^th to take on Alvernia at 2 p.m. in Reading, PA. The squad will continue on the road games with a matchup against cross town rival Wilkes at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20^th.