LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — For as much of the momentum that had gone awry in the closing minutes of the first half, Siena men’s lacrosse responded with an offensive onslaught of eight unanswered goals to comfortably defeat UMass Lowell 16-12 on Sunday at Hickey Field. 

Senior Colin Gleason recorded his first career hat trick, Christian Watts joined him with a hat trick of his own and six others scored at least once as the Saints scored the most goals they had in nearly four years. The last time that Siena had scored that many goals in a single game came on April 13, 2019, when the Saints put up 20 in a win against NJIT.

The River Hawks (0-3) chipped their way back into the game, scoring four straight goals to eventually take a 7-6 lead into halftime on a goal by Garrett Murphy with 1:31 remaining in the half. 

Trailing 8-7 in the third quarter, it was all Saints (2-1) from that point forward.

Siena sophomore attack Pratt Reynolds got the 8-0 run ignited with a goal to tie the game for the fifth time. McCarthy put the Saints (2-1) up for good with 7:29 to go in the third quarter on an assist from Brian Mack.

The Saints stayed relentless as Watts, Reynolds, Zac Schuette all scored to provide a four-goal cushion heading into the final frame. In the fourth quarter, Watts notched his third goal of the game and eighth of the season. George Rusnak found the back of the net on a feed from McCarthy and then Gleason secured his hat trick to increase the lead to 15-8 with 13 minutes to play. 

Siena outshot UMass Lowell 50-31 for the game and found a heavy advantage for shots on goals (11-2) in the difference-making third quarter. 

Goalkeeper Chris Yanchoris recorded 10 saves.  Dylan Pape and Sean Miller combined to win 19 of 32 faceoffs. 

Siena returns to action on the road at Dartmouth (2-0) of the Ivy League on Wednesday, March 1 with a 1 p.m. faceoff at Scully-Fahey Field.