READING, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's lacrosse team earned a big 19-8 victory at Alvernia University on Saturday afternoon in the team's second trip to Reading this season. The team spoiled Alvernia's Senior Day with its second double-digit victory of the season.
 
The Dutchmen (7-2) rebounded from a tough defeat on Wednesday with a strong first quarter against the Golden Wolves (5-3) and former assistant coach Luke Franklin, who took over the Alvernia program in December. Alvernia had the early advantage in the game as Kellen Markley made a pair of saves over a scoreless first five minutes. LVC started to gain momentum as Montgomery Sensenig and Ethan Keenan had shots saved on the offensive end. Jacob Olson scored the first goal of the game almost seven minutes in to give LVC the lead. The Wolves responded with a goal a couple of minutes later to even things up.
 
The Dutchmen outplayed the hosts over the final five minutes of the quarter and scored three times to take a lead they would never relinquish. Sean Poole scored his 15th goal of the season off an assist from Brayden Brown to give the Dutchmen a 2-1 advantage with a little under five minutes to play in the quarter. The Dutchmen took advantage of the first penalty of the game as Sam Spagnuolo had a shot saved before the sophomore scored his second goal of the year, less than 20 seconds into the extra-man opportunity. Hayden Carling was credited with an assist on the play. It only took the team nine seconds to score after Alvernia was called for another penalty as Ryan Grace connected with Keenan for his 12th goal of the year to make it 4-1. Alvernia put pressure on the defense over the final minute, but two shots were blocked, and the Dutchmen maintained the three-goal advantage.
 
Alvernia called a timeout a minute into the second quarter after an LVC turnover. They scored out of the timeout to cut the lead to two. The Dutchmen responded with Dylan Rinyak having a shot blocked and three shots by Grace, Carling, and Rinyak going wide. Keenan had a shot saved, and Grace hit the post. Markley picked up a loose ball in front of the crease, and after a quick clear, Branden Manderbach fired a shot into the back of the net for his first goal of the season. A little over a minute later, Carling added to the lead with his 13th goal of the year to make it 6-2 with seven minutes left in the half.
 
Grace had a shot saved out of a timeout, a little over a minute later. The Wolves cleared the ball and scored to bring the lead to three goals. Markley made a big save after the hosts won the faceoff. The teams traded missed shots as Grace had another shot saved. The Golden Wolves started to push the momentum in their favor as Markley made three saves over the final two minutes including two on back-to-back shots with under 25 seconds left. The Dutchmen quickly cleared the ball off the second save, and Connor Sample found Grace for the sophomore's 25th goal of the season to put the Dutchmen up 7-3 at the break.
 
The Dutchmen started the second half with the ball after winning the faceoff. Grace put a shot wide before Alvernia took its first possession of the half. Grace scored the first goal of the half a few minutes in as he raced around the back of the crease after a wide shot from Olson. Poole added to the advantage with 9:16 on the clock as he scored off a pass from Spagnuolo to make it 9-3.
 
The Wolves countered with two quick goals to cut the deficit back down to four at 9-5. The Dutchmen responded right back as Grace found Carling open on the extra-man opportunity. Brown then found Poole open for a goal with a little under five to play in the quarter. Alvernia scored twice over the next three minutes to bring the lead back to 11-7. The Wolves hit the post, and Markley came up with a big save to keep the four-goal advantage after three quarters of play.
 
LVC had a huge fourth quarter to put the game away, outscoring the Golden Wolves 8-1 in the final 15 minutes. The scoring started early as Spagnuolo scored off an assist from Poole 14 seconds into the quarter after an offside penalty on Alvernia gave them a man advantage to begin the quarter. Sensenig picked up the ground ball on the following faceoff and scored his first goal of the season to put the Dutchmen up 13-7. Grace hit the post 11 seconds later, and the Dutchmen earned their second extra-man opportunity of the quarter. Grace had a shot saved, and Keenan picked up the ground ball and found the back of the cage for a goal to push the advantage to seven. Spagnuolo added to the lead a couple of minutes later as Sensenig found him in transition with 11:27 remaining. The lead grew to nine a couple of minutes later as Spagnuolo caused a failed clear attempt by the Wolves and then scored.
 
Poole added another goal with an assist from Brown to make it 17-7. Alvernia stopped the run with a goal to bring the deficit back to single digits with 5:37 left on the clock. The Dutchmen scored back-to-back goals with four minutes left as Grace fired a shot into the back of the net, and then Poole connected with Trevor Moore for his second goal of the year to make it 19-8. LVC worked the clock the rest of the way to earn a season sweep of the Reading schools.
 
Inside the Box

• The Dutchmen improved to 12-1 all-time against Alvernia, winning the past 12 games in the series. It was the first meeting between the former conference rivals since LVC moved over to the MAC Freedom following the 2023 season.
• Poole led the team with six points on four goals and two assists. He also picked up four ground balls. The senior recorded the 50th point of his career.
• Spagnuolo scored four goals and added an assist for five points. The sophomore recorded the first hat trick of his career.
• Grace had a strong game with three goals and two assists for five points. The sophomore also led the team with five ground balls.
• Carling had three points on two goals and an assist, while Brown dished out three assists.
• Sensenig scored his first goal of the year and added an assist while picking up three ground balls.
• Keenan scored two goals on five shots. Olson, Moore, and Manderbach had a goal each while Sample recorded an assist.
• Markley made 13 saves in goal.
• The Dutchmen had a 50-40 shot advantage and were an impressive 21-22 on clear attempts.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will be off until Wednesday, April 1, when they open conference play against DeSales University in Center Valley. The opening faceoff against the Bulldogs is scheduled for 7 p.m. on the campus of DeSales.

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