ANNVILLE, Pa. – Lebanon Valley senior attackman Sean Poole scored five goals to lead the men's lacrosse team to a 16-5 victory on Senior Day over King's College on Saturday afternoon at Arnold Field in Annville.
 
The Dutchmen (11-4, 3-2 MAC Freedom) honored 13 seniors prior to the game, with Poole playing the national anthem on his saxophone as part of the pre-game festivities. Once the game got underway, it didn't take long for LVC to score as Ryan Grace found open space for his 41st goal of the year, 1:09 into the game. Poole made it 2-0 two minutes later as he buried his 31st goal of the season into the back of the net. The teams battled up and down the field over the next few minutes as Grace, Poole, and Ethan Keenan all had shots saved. Poole scored his second goal of the game with 6:42 remaining in the quarter off a feed by Grace to increase the lead to three.
 
King's got on the board around a minute later with a goal to cut the deficit to two. Connor Mulada picked up the ground ball on the following faceoff, and Grace had a quick shot saved. LVC missed the net on a few shots over the next four minutes but kept the defensive pressure up and didn't allow the Monarchs a shot attempt. Montgomery Sensenig picked up a loose ball and connected with Poole to put LVC up 4-1 with 1:22 on the clock. Connor Rowe won the following faceoff, and 40 seconds later, Jacob Olson scored off a pass from Wyatt Shamer. The Monarchs were able to score with 24 seconds left to get the advantage to 5-2 after one period of play.
 
Keenan scored the first goal of the second quarter a couple of minutes in to push the advantage to four. LVC increased the lead to five with 8:40 on the clock as Shamer found Grace open for his second goal of the game. Poole made it 8-2 a little over a minute later as he picked up a ground ball off a Keenan shot that deflected off the post and put back the rebound into the open net for his fourth goal.
 
The Monarchs called a timeout to try to stop LVC's momentum. The Dutchmen won the next faceoff and fired three shots at the crease. King's was able to hold the Dutchmen off the scoreboard until there were four minutes left in the half as Grace completed his hat trick with his third goal of the game. Rowan Myers made it 10-2 a minute later with his 21st goal of the year. The Monarchs had a chance to cut into the lead late in the final minute, as a shot sailed just wide of the net to keep the deficit at eight goals heading into halftime.
 
The third quarter was a defensive battle between the teams as the first 10 minutes were scoreless. Brayden Brown had a pair of shots saved, while Keenan and Dylan Rinyak also had shots saved for the Dutchmen. King's had a pair of shots saved by Kellen Markley before finding the back of the net with 4:43 on the clock to cut the score to 10-3. LVC called a timeout and responded right away as Grace scored his fourth goal less than a minute later. Poole scored his fifth goal with 2:14 on the clock off an assist by Olson to push the lead to 12-3. The Dutchmen held the Monarchs without a shot over the final two minutes to head into the fourth quarter with a nine-goal advantage.
 
Brown started the scoring in the final quarter as he found an opening after a nice cross-field pass from Shamer. The goal was his 15th of the year. Grace then scored his fifth goal of the game as he fired home a rebound after a saved shot. The Dutchmen started to work the clock, playing with an 11-goal lead. The Monarchs managed to squeeze a shot into the goal with 5:23 left and then added another goal two minutes later. The Dutchmen responded with quick back-to-back goals from Sam Spagnuolo and Shamer. Rowe picked up the ground ball on the faceoff following the King's goal and found Spagnuolo open for his eighth goal of the year. Rowe won another faceoff, and Shamer worked his way free for the game's final goal.
 
Inside the Box

• Poole scored a career-high five goals for the third time this season. The senior has six hat tricks this year and scored eight goals in his final two home games.
• Grace had another strong game with seven points on five goals and two assists. The sophomore has scored 45 goals this season with three five-goal games and 10 hat tricks.
• Shamer recorded four points on one goal and three assists while Olson added one goal and one assist.
• Rowe was dominant on faceoffs, winning 16 of 18 attempts with 11 ground balls. The first-year also had an assist.
• Ish Bolorin was a perfect 7-for-7 on faceoffs with four ground balls.
• Keenan, Myers, Brown, and Spagnuolo scored a goal each while Sensenig had an assist.
• The Dutchmen had a 56-31 shot advantage, were 19-for-24 on clear attempts, and picked up 52 ground balls. LVC won 23 of 25 faceoffs.
• Lebanon Valley has won the past seven meetings with the Monarchs.

Up Next
The Dutchmen enter the final week of the regular season in fourth place in the conference standings. They will place second-place Arcadia University on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Glenside before rounding out the regular season at Misericordia University next Saturday.

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