ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's lacrosse team broke open a close game by outscoring King's College 6-0 in the third quarter to defeat the Monarchs 15-5 on Saturday afternoon at Arnold Field in the first conference game of the season.
 
Alex Kiviniemi gave the Dutchmen (5-6, 1-0 MAC Freedom) the early lead as he scored an unassisted goal just over three minutes into the contest. King's responded four minutes later with the tying goal after a turnover on a failed clear attempt by the Dutchmen. LVC struck right back as Kiviniemi fired a shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the game as the Dutchmen were playing a man down due to a penalty. LVC increased the lead to 4-1 with a pair of goals a little over 30 seconds apart. Colin Hughes scored first with 5:29 left in the quarter off a nice pass from Trey Ralston before Dylan Rinyak found Rowan Myers open over the middle for a goal 34 seconds later. The Monarchs cut the lead in half with a great pass and score in front of the net with 2:35 remaining to make it 4-2.
 
King's continued the strong play into the second quarter and tied the game up at four on a pair of unassisted goals by Ben Spencer. The Dutchmen responded with a pair of quick goals to take a 6-4 lead into the half. Ethan Keenan scored the go-ahead goal at 5:42 left in the half, just 36 seconds after King's scored the tying goal. John Lux then fired a shot into the back of the net 17 seconds after LVC called a timeout to make it a two-goal game. The teams battled up and down the field over the final five minutes of the quarter but neither team was able to score.
 
The Dutchmen started the third quarter strong with three goals in a span of one minute to build a five-goal cushion. Ralston began the run with a goal off an assist by Kiviniemi with 11:41 on the clock. Easley Pierson picked up the ground ball on the following faceoff and scored 11 seconds later to make it 8-4. Ralston then scored his second of the game with 10:41 left. Ralston continued his goal scoring as he completed his hat trick nearly three minutes later off a feed from Lux. The junior then scored his third consecutive goal with six minutes to go in the quarter off a pass from Garret Harmon. The Dutchmen kept the pressure on the Monarchs and Lux concluded the scoring in the quarter with his second goal of the game off a great pass from Kiviniemi.
 
LVC scored twice in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter starting on a pair of unassisted goals by Jake Bollinger and Lux. Neither team was able to score over the next 10 minutes of the game as LVC protected a 10-goal advantage. Nick Huff made it 15-4 with his first goal before the Monarchs scored with 1:17 remaining to set the final score.
 
Inside the Box

• Ralston led the Dutchmen with five points on four goals and one assist. He put five of his six shots on goal while recording his third hat trick of the year.
• Lux recorded his first hat trick as a Dutchman with three goals and an assist. He recorded his seventh multi-point game of the year.
• Kiviniemi had two goals and two assists on four shots. The graduate student also picked up three ground balls.
• Bollinger led the team with six ground balls and two caused turnovers. The senior scored one goal on 10 total shots.
• Zach Wanous had four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
• Miles Synder won 12 of 21 faceoffs and had two ground balls.
• The Dutchmen outshot the Monarchs 49-30 and had a 37-26 advantage in ground balls.

Up Next
LVC will head to Glenside on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game against Arcadia University.

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