DALLAS, Pa. – In an overtime conference thriller, it was a goal by senior Daniel Minnich that sealed the victory for the Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham men's lacrosse team as the Devils defeated the Misericorida University Cougars 10-9 on Saturday afternoon.

Aside from the timely goal, Minnich also scored earlier in the contest and had an assist. Sophomore David Stewart added a pair of goals as well, while junior Matt Melnik had a hat trick with three goals and two assists for the Devils (5-8, 3-2 MAC Freedom) in their win over the Cougars (7-6, 2-3 MAC Freedom).

Freshman Liam Nelson won 12 face-offs for FDU-Florham and tallied eight ground balls. Meanwhile, in his first career start for the Devils, freshman goalkeeper Tom Tornetto had 16 saves.

After falling behind 2-0 early in the first period, the Devils attacked the Cougars' net. Following back-to-back shots that were saved by the Misericorida goalkeeper, Josh Shanker, the Devils got another chance and this time, Melnik buried the shot off of an assist by Minnich.

The Cougars took a 4-1 lead after scoring two more goals in the final two minutes of the opening period. Misericordia continued to find the back of the net and they netted a pair of shots in the second period to cap off a 4-0 run.

FDU-Florham responded with a goal by Minnich after Stewart found him near the net. Following a goal by Andrew Reynolds for Misericordia, the Devils offense caught its stride. Nelson won the faceoff and a minute later, Frank Salustri had the ball and he found Stewart near the net for the score.

The Cougars' lead was trimmed to three before the end of the half when Rimmer found the back of the net after he received a pass from Dan Sagl.

Within the opening minute of the second half, freshman Will Charbonneau scored to make it a 7-5 game. After the Cougars scored on a man-up opportunity midway through the third period, the Devils countered with a goal from Salustri.

The Salustri score sparked a 3-0 run for the Devils as Melnik and Stewart each scored to knot the game up at 8-8 in the fourth period.

Misericordia took the lead with four minutes remaining in the game once Patrick DeMichele scored. However, with just over a minute left, Tornetto denied a shot by the Cougars and the Devils worked their way down the field and Melnik ripped a shot into the net.

In the closing 30 seconds, Tornetto came up huge and picked up three consecutive saves to bring the game into overtime.

To kick off the overtime period, Rimmer won the faceoff and the Devils called timeout. As FDU-Florham controlled possession, Rimmer had the ball and he dished it over to Minnich and he scored the game-winning goal to give the Devils the 10-9 conference victory.

The Devils will be back in action on Wednesday, April 27 for a road contest against Eastern University at 4 p.m. in St. David's, Pa.