Syracuse, N.Y. – Three Dolphins recorded hat tricks to lead the top-ranked Le Moyne College men's lacrosse team to a 14-11 victory over 10th-ranked Pace University in Northeast-10 Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Ted Grant Field.

Pace opened the game's scoring on its first shot of the game at the 12:56 mark as Joe Diggle tallied his fourth goal of the season.

The Dolphins answered back with a pair of goals in 76 seconds. Graduate student midfielder Ross Filtch (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus/Siena) recorded his third goal of the season with 12:22 left in the opening quarter after taking a pass from fifth-year attackman Matt Hutchings (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus). Senior midfielder Ben McCreary (Cicero, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy (Syracuse)) followed with his third goal of the campaign with 11:06 to go.

The Setters took advantage of a Le Moyne penalty to even the score at two apiece. Off a pass from Jake Veres, Alan Singleton posted an extra-man goal for his sixth tally of the year with 9:41 left.

Hutchings registered his fifth goal of the season – and 95th of his career – with 2:26 remaining to give the Dolphins the lead again.

As they did in the first quarter, Pace started the scoring in the second quarter on an unassisted goal by Anthony Caputo 56 seconds into the stanza.

Le Moyne countered with three consecutive goals. Graduate student attackman Jake Nelson (Charlotte, N.C./Vestal (N.Y.)/Binghamton/Mercer/Syracuse) gave the Dolphins the lead for good with his seventh goal of the campaign with 5:59 until halftime. Hutchings followed 21 seconds later for a two-goal lead. With the goal, Hutchings moved past Mike Jenkins '16 and Justin Kesselring '18 for eighth in the program's history with his 159th point. Graduate student midfielder Hans Zimmer (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) completed the streak at the 4:44 mark with his first goal of the season.

Singleton got the Setters back within two with 2:36 left off a feed from Caputo.

Following a non-releasable penalty on the goalkeeper at the conclusion of the second quarter, the Dolphins scored twice in the opening minute of the third quarter. Filtch tallied his second goal of the afternoon 40 seconds in off a dish from junior midfielder John Bergan (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee). Just 17 seconds later, junior attackman Kevin Sheehan (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee) netted his fifth goal of the year after collecting a pass from junior midfielder Colin Sypek (Lake Worth, Fla./American Heritage School (Delray Beach)). Off another Pace penalty on the ensuing faceoff, Bergan found the back of the net for the second time this season at the 12:47 mark after taking a feed from Sheehan.

Sheehan got the Dolphins into double digits at the 8:17 mark after receiving a pass from Hutchings. With the assist, Hutchings tied Ryan Lewis '06 for 10th in the program's history with his 64th.

Caputo snapped Le Moyne's 4-0 run 31 seconds later with his fifth goal of the year.

Hutchings answered back 15 seconds later to push the lead back to six off a pass from Filtch.

Pace recorded three straight goals to cut its deficit in half. Blake Balcaen started the spurt with 6:27 to go. Caputo netted his third goal of the day with 5:05 left off a pass from Rafael Rodriguez, Jr. and then tallied an unassisted marker with 3:53 remaining.

Le Moyne pushed its lead back to five with the final two goals of the quarter. Filtch completed his hat trick with 2:56 left off a pass from Nelson, who followed 27 seconds later with his eighth goal of the season off a feed from Sypek.

The Setters got back within three with the first two goals of the final quarter. Singleton made it 13-9 by finishing off a pass from Jake Meeker off the opening faceoff of the period. Rowan Kelly then scored his first career goal with 12:42 to play.

Le Moyne completed its scoring with 9:00 left as Nelson registered his third goal of the day off a restart of a missed shot.

Veres finished off the scoring in the game with 4:47 left on Pace's last shot on goal of the contest.

Redshirt senior goalkeeper Riley Smith (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Bake/Onondaga C.C.) made four saves (against eight goals) over the first 41:07, while redshirt junior Frank Delia (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker/Onondaga C.C.) turned away three shots (against three goals) over the final 18:53. Louis Ragusa suffered the loss for the Setters after making 11 saves (against 12 goals) over 58:21. Junior faceoff specialist Sam Kury (Oakdale, Conn./Montville), who entered the day third in Division II in faceoff winning percentage, went 14-of-24 at the dot.
 
Le Moyne (3-0, 2-0 NE10), which has won 24 straight games over the Setters, returns to action on Wednesday at seventh-ranked Adelphi University at 3:00 p.m. for the first of two NE10 matchups this season.