Riverdale, NY - The College of Mount Saint Vincent's men's lacrosse team opened up the 2023 season at home, taking on Cairn University in the first ever college lacrosse game played on Marillac Field's new turf surface. The Dolphins rose to the occasion in front of their home crowd, mounting numerous comebacks en route to a 12-8 victory over the Highlanders.

This was CMSV's first opening season victory since the 2020 campaign.

The cold afternoon led to an early defensive battle on both ends of the field. It wasn't until five minutes into the game when the first goal was scored by the Highlanders, and the visitors put another one in less than a minute later to give them an early two goal edge.

From there, it wasn't long before freshman Richie Albert made his presence known. The first year attackman from Muncy, Ontario, Canada scored his first collegiate goal off a pass from Jacob Cochran to make it a 2-1 game. Like Cairn, CMSV scored in less than a minute, with Cochran putting one past the opposing goaltender to tie things up, with freshman Isaac Parsons recording the assist.

The remainder of the first saw no goals on either side. Dolphins goaltender saved two shots in the first 15 minutes while the Dolphins defense caused five turnovers.
The second quarter mimicked the first, with the Highlanders scoring a goal and the Dolphins immediately responding. It was once again Cochran who found the back of the net, as the junior impressed with a long sprint, putting things into his hands himself. The teams entered the halfway break tied at three.

Early into the third quarter, it was the Dolphins' turn to take the lead. Junior captain Joseph Santana scored his first goal of the season in a man advantage situation, with Albert setting up his teammate beautifully right in front of the Highlanders keeper. Cochran added to his strong offensive performance by scoring his third goal of the afternoon, making it 4-2 in favor of the Dolphins. Parsons and Giovanni Jean-Pharuns would add to the point totals, but before the quarter would end, the Highlanders would score three unanswered goals of their own to once again tie things up, this time at seven.

The fourth was all Dolphins, specifically Albert. He would go on a personal tear, scoring three straight goals to put the Dolphins up for good. Classmate and starting attackman Andrew Dzubak would score his first collegiate goal before Albert put the cherry on top with his fifth of the afternoon.

Albert completed his first game as a Dolphin with five goals and two assists on nine shots, while Cochran added three goals and a helper as well. Freshman Chris Meenan led the way defensively for the Dolphins with five ground balls and four caused turnovers, and Hunter Moore aided in the tough defense with three caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls as well.

Brian Valera was a boon to CMSV's possession game, winning 10 of 19 faceoff attempts with a team best seven ground balls. Davis ended the contest with nine saves.

The Dolphins will look to regroup this week before challenging the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts this coming Saturday.