MADISON, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham men's lacrosse team dropped a MAC Freedom contest to the DeSales University Bulldogs 11-9 on Wednesday night at Robert T. Shields Field.
Senior Frank Salustri and sophomore David Stewart each recorded a multi-goal game for the Devils (4-8, 2-2 MAC Freedom) in the loss to the Bulldogs (4-7, 4-0 MAC Freedom). Junior midfielder Dalton Rimmer tallied three points after scoring a goal and dishing out a pair of assists.
On the defensive end, junior Dan Decker recorded eight ground balls and caused a career-high six turnovers. Sophomore goalkeeper Connor Evans was in charge of defending the net for FDU-Florham and he tallied double-digit saves for the fifth time this season with 10 on the night.
The Bulldogs got an early lead after Justin Wilson scored off of an assist from Tommy Friedman.
Less than two minutes later the Devils responded though with a goal from Dan Sagl. After DeSales reclaimed the lead in the opening quarter, FDU-Florham went on to score a pair of goals off of shots from Salustri and Ryan Berkenbush.
Before the quarter came to a close, the Bulldogs were able to knot the score up at 3-3 with another goal by Wilson.
The Devils opened the second quarter red hot and went on a 4-0 run capped off by a Daniel Minnich score to push the lead to four. However, DeSales countered with a 3-0 run of their own to cut the deficit to one heading into the second half.
About midway through the third quarter, Stewart lined up a shot on a man-up opportunity and he buried it to give FDU-Florham an 8-6 lead. Minutes later the Bulldogs answered with goals from Bryan Weber and Ryan Loughlin to knot the game up at 8-8.
The Devils retook the lead in the first minute of the final stanza when Mike Duesler launched the ball the full length of the field to Salustri and he ripped the shot into the back of the net.
DeSales was not fazed by the marvelous goal by the Devils though and went on a 3-0 run to close out the game and grab the conference victory.
The Devils will return to the field on Saturday, April 23 for a MAC Freedom road match against Misericordia in Dallas, Pa. slated for 1 p.m.
