(Garden City, NY) At Hoftstra Field on Saturday, the Men's Lacrosse team competed against #4 ranked Essex CC. Essex was coming off of a big win against then ranked #2 Genesee just a few days prior, so the stakes were high.

From the beginning the Lions pounced on the Essex Knights as long stick midfielder and returning All-American Taylor Jensen, scored only two minutes into the game. He scored off of an assist from Tyler Butrico and gave NCC just the momentum they needed. Next, Justin Roderka found the back of the net next off of an assist from Liam Muldoon. The score was 2-0 after the first quarter.

Just over one minute into the second quarter, the Lions went on a run, which was started by Eddie Munoz. Face-off specialist John Ehlers scored just 8 seconds later to make the score four nothing. Nassau pushed to a 10-2 lead just before half time.

During the second half of the game, the defense continued to excel in front of goalies Gunnar Luckoski and Anthony Kennin. Aidan Conk, Brian Schaefer and Dylan Guarneri were all outstanding for the Lions helping them clench a 20-5 win against the Knights.

The rope unit of Tyler Butrico, Scott Sasso, Kali White Jr., Taylor Jensen and Hunter Guarneri made a major impact throughout the game. The 5 of them had their positions locked down, were playing great team defense and were getting the ball off the ground to push early offensive opportunities. Justin Roderka lead the team with 6 total goals.

Post game, Head Coach John Savage commented, "I was extremely proud of our guys today. Their effort was there and exactly what we needed. From the first whistle until the end of the game, our guys gave everything they had."

Next up for the Lions is Brookdale CC on Tuesday at home.