ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (March 25, 2017) - The Molloy men's lacrosse team fell to the No. 9 New York Institute of Technology Bears, 9-6, Saturday afternoon at John A. Darcy Field. The Lions moved to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the East Coast Conference.

Senior Connor Slane (North Babylon, N.Y.) led the Lions with two goals. Junior Casey Kelly (Oceanside, N.Y.) and freshman Colin Kotarski (Rocky Point, N.Y.) registered two points each. Andrew Zito (Center Moriches, N.Y.) tallied a game-high four points for NYIT, which improved to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in ECC play.

Kelly opened the scoring for the Lions to make it 1-0. The Bears' Leroy Halftown (Cattaraugus Reservation) responded with a goal to knot the game at one apiece.  Slane and Kotarski scored the game's next two goals to put the maroon and white ahead 3-1 at the end of the first quarter.

NYIT started the second quarter with three straight goals to take a 4-3 edge. Sophomore Mike Durkin (Lake Grove, N.Y.) and sophomore Travis Cooksey (Wantagh, N.Y.) responded with back-to-back to goals to put Molloy ahead 5-4 at the half.

Zito scored the first goal of the second half to tie the game at five. The Lions came right back with a goal from Slane to make it 6-5. NYIT scored the game's final four tallies, including three straight from Will Kistinger (Bohemia, N.Y.), on its way to a 9-6 win.

Durkin led the Lions with four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Junior Ryan Toomey (Hicksville, N.Y.) made 12 saves in the losing effort.

Molloy returns to the RVC Sports Complex Wednesday (Mar.29) when it hosts Georgian Court. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.