NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Albertus Magnus College men's lacrosse team fell at home to the visiting Monks of Saint Joseph College of Maine, 23-9, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Saturday afternoon at Celentano Field.

Jon Olson (Bellmore, N.Y.) led the offensive attack for the Falcons, netting a team-high four goals to earn his fifth hat trick of the season. Freshman Matthew Hutchings (Mt. Kisco, N.Y.) finished with two goals, while Alex Jones (Shelton, Conn.), Bailey Kirwin (Barrie, Ontario), and Rocco Albanese (Nutley, N.J.) posted a goal each in the loss. 

Falcon keeper Dane Walsh (Bethany, Conn.) finished the game, tying his season-high in saves with 30. 

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Saint Joseph's (Me) 23 | Albertus Magnus 9
RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (7-3, 1-3 GNAC) | Saint Joseph's (Me.) (5-6, 3-1 GNAC)
BOX SCORE

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Monks kicked off the game by scoring six unanswered goals over the first 15 minutes of play, while the Falcons tried to find their groove offensively and held to only seven shots.
• Saint Joseph's came out of the gate with two goals in the opening two minutes of the second quarter before Albanese scored an unassisted goal to put the Falcons on the board, 8-1.
• Shortly after, Kirwin was able to find the back of the net on a man-up opportunity caused by a Monks' penalty to bring the hosts to within six, 8-2, with 10:33 left on the clock.
• The Monks' offensive unit went to work and scored a trio of goals before the Falcons struck again when Cooper Strecker (Chester, Conn.) found Olson for the easy goal, 11-3.
• Saint Joseph's continued to put the pressure on and scored two goals until a second goal from Olson broke up their streak, once again, with 2:16 left to play in the half.
• The Monks rallied one last time as Max Lacy scored the final goal of the second to put the Monks up 10,14-4, heading into the halftime break.
• The Falcons could not fend off the Monks in the third quarter as they scored six consecutive goals before Hutchings pushed between the pipes during a man-up opportunity, bringing the score to 21-7. 
• Within the final minute of the stanza, Saint Joseph's and Albertus traded goals, 21-6, with Olson scoring his third of the game with 12 seconds on the clock.
• Despite outscoring the Monks, 3-2, in the final 15 minutes of play, Albertus was unable to secure the late rally and fell to the Monks in conference play, 23-9.

TOP PERFORMERS
Albertus:
Jon Olson: 4 goals | 1 assist | 9 shots 
Matthew Hutchings:  2 goals | 5 shots 
Bailey Kirwin: 1 goal | 6 shots | 2 ground balls

Saint Joseph's: 
Tiger Hopkins: 6 goals | 3 assists | 13 shots | 1 ground ball
Max Lacy: 6 goals | 1 assist | 6 shots | 1 ground ball 
Xavier Michaud: 5 goals | 7 shots | 1 ground ball

NOTEWORTHY

• Today's game marked the eighth game in the all-time series between the Falcons and Monks. 
• Albertus had three players - Derek Ralston (Guilford, Conn.), Matt Bouchard (Berlin, Conn.), and Will Capalbo (Norwalk, Conn.) - post two caused turnovers.
• Ralston also finished with a season-high 12 ground balls and 17 won face-offs. 
• Olson scored 4+ goals for the fourth time this season. 
• Kirwin has scored at least one goal in six games this season. 
• Walsh tied his season-high in saves with 30. 

UP NEXT
The men's lacrosse team returns to action at home to play against the Bulldogs of Dean College in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Saturday, April 8th. The face-off is set for 1:00 p.m. at Celentano Field.