Yonkers, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Lacrosse team dropped its third straight game to open the season on Wednesday following a hard fought 9-8 loss to visiting Mitchell. Junior Germain Ngaba (Bronx, N.Y.) led the Dolphins with three goals and senior Frank Maddaloni (Bronx, N.Y.) led all players with eight groundballs.
 
Mount Saint Vincent took its only lead of the game early in the opening period on Wednesday when Ngaba converted his first goal of the game, an unassisted tally, at the 12:45 mark of the quarter. From there, Mitchell scored the next three goals to take a 3-1 lead after 15 minutes of action.
 
Mount Saint Vincent outscored Mitchell 2-1 in the second quarter, getting goals from Pat McEnaney (New York, N.Y.) and Rob Lalli (Tuckahoe, N.Y.). McEnaney scored his first of the season five-and-a-half minutes into the period and Lalli scored with five seconds left in the stanza to get the Mount to within 4-3 heading into halftime.
 
The Dolphins and Mariners split two goals in the third quarter, with Brian Jordan scoring for Mitchell ten seconds into the period and Maddaloni registering his second goal of the campaign in the final minute to get the Mount to within goal heading in the final period.
 
After falling behind 9-6 with 96 seconds left in regulation, Mount Saint Vincent mounted a comeback that saw it score two goals in 40 seconds. Ngaba scored with 1:28 left to get the Dolphins to within two goals and tallied his third of the game in the final minute to make the score 9-8. An extra man opportunity thwarted the comeback for the Dolphins with 14 seconds to play.
 
Ngaba closed a strong day for Mount Saint Vincent with three goals and seven groundballs. He went 11-for-17 in face-offs for the Dolphins. Maddaloni added a goal to his groundball total, while Joe Esposito (Bethpage, N.Y.) and James Fitzgerald (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) each caused three turnovers.
 
Dan DiGioa and Jordan led Mitchell with two goals and an assist each with Jordan Cook and J.D. LeMay each picking up six groundballs. Maxx Crowley won seven face-offs for the Mariners and finished the day with four groundballs and three caused turnovers.
 
Senior Ben Gashi (Bronx, N.Y.) finished the game with 10 saves in goal for the Dolphins and added three groundballs. LeMay picked up the win in goal for Mitchell after stopping 16 Mount Saint Vincent shots.
 
Mount Saint Vincent closed the game with a 46-27 advantage in shots, but just a 24-19 edge in shots on goal. The Dolphins held an 11-9 advantage in face-offs, a 41-37 edge in groundballs and went 10-for-11 in clearing chances.
 
At 0-3 overall on the season, Mount Saint Vincent will be back in action again on Saturday when they travel to Immaculata. Face-off with the Mighty Macs is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

Like Mount Saint Vincent Athletics onFacebookand Follow the Dolphins onTwitter.