(Garden City, NY) Last Saturday, the Men's Lacrosse team hosted #4 Howard Community College at home. Over the last two years, this game has historically been decided by 1 goal, so the Lions knew they were going to have to bring their A game.

Nassau opened the scoring only a minute and twenty six seconds into the 1st quarter. Justin Roderka found the back of the net with assistance from Dan Rooney to get the Lions off to a great start. Howard answered with a quick goal to keep the game close, but the Lions continued to lay on the heat with Roderka recording his second goal of the day with an assist from Hunter Guarneri. Only 15 seconds later, Howard tied the game 2-2. Nassau harnessed the momentum and went on a 4 goal streak to make the score 6-2. Liam Muldoon scored three of those four goals, while Matt Russo recorded the fourth. It was a back and forth battle between the two teams from there. During the second period, Tom Szalkowski and Roderka tallied multiple goals and the score was 12-5 going into halftime.

Starting the third period, Roderka wasted no time finding the back of the net for the 5th time that day. Howard answered with a goal under a minute later, but Nassau was in a groove and went on a three goal run thanks to Eddie Munoz, Rooney and Roderka. Howard responded with one goal only to have Pat Behrens and Rooney return with back-to-back goals. After three periods, the score was 18-7. Howard squeezed in four goals late in the game, making the final score 19-11.

The defense consisted of Aidan Conk, Brian Schaefer, Taylor Jensen, Dylan Guarneri, Hunter Guarneri, Tyler Butrico, Kali White Jr. Vin Varrone along with goalies Gunnar Luckoski and Anthony Kennin. The team held a potent Howard offense to only 7 goals in three periods and 11 goals overall.

Outstanding players of the game were Justin Roderka who led the team with 6 goals and 2 assists. Liam Muldoon had 3 goals and 3 assists. Dan Rooney finished with 3 goals and 1 assist. Pat Behrens contributed with 2 goals.

Head Coach John Savage commented after the match that, "Today was a hard fought battle by both teams.  Howard has a talented and tough group of men and I was very pleased with how our team responded to the challenge today. We look forward to the Region XV Championships in just a few short weeks."

Next week, the Lions will travel to Newport, Rhode Island to compete against Navy Prep in their second to last regular season game of 2019.