Matt Carfaro	Conor Carey	Connor Kirkwood

Box score

CORTLAND, N.Y. – The University of Scranton men's lacrosse team could not slow No. 18 Cortland State coming out of halftime as the Red Dragons used a big third period to hand the Royals a 15-9 loss on Wednesday afternoon.

Scranton (1-1) rallied to force a 5-5 tie at halftime by holding Cortland State (2-0) scoreless in the second period while scoring twice. But the Red Dragons responded with a dominant third period, outscoring the Royals, 6-0, to take control.

The Royals received two goals and three assists from junior attackman Matt Carfaro (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris), and two goals and an assist from junior midfielder Conor Carey (Long Beach, N.Y./Chaminade) and two goals from freshman attackman Connor Kirkwood (Millburn, N.J./St. Peter's Prep).

Senior defender Mattias Jones (Exton, Pa./Malvern Prep) had a team-high four ground balls, and Carey, senior defender Sean Ebert (Woolwich Township, N.J./St. Joseph's Prep) and junior midfielder Jack Kiess (Glen Rock, N.J./Ramapo) each had three ground balls. Kiess also had a team-high two caused turnovers.

The Royals also received goals from senior midfielder William Joyce (Bethesda, Md./St. John's College H.S.), junior attackman Patrick O'Rourke (Floral Park, N.Y./Chaminade) and freshman midfielder Peter Roche (Chester, N.J./Mendham). Freshman attackman Quinn Killeen (Berkeley Heights, N.J./New Providence) also added an assist.

Cortland State finished with a commanding 46-23 edge in shots and 40-25 in ground balls. Each team won 14 faceoffs.

Scranton will be back in action on Saturday, March 4, when the Royals travel to Rochester, N.Y. to take on No. 2 Rochester Institute of Technology at 12 p.m.

--ROYALS--