Syracuse, N.Y. – Junior midfielder Kyle Caves (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) tallied a career-high five goals to lead the fourth-ranked Le Moyne College men's lacrosse team to a 10-8 victory over second-ranked Mercy College in their season opener on Sunday afternoon at Ted Grant Field.

"Today was a 'program win'," said head coach Dan Sheehan. "When you have a guy like Kyle, who could have started last year on almost any team in the country, finally gets his number called, that says a lot about Kyle and our locker room. We had a great week of practice and that carried over to today."

Caves, who netted four goals over 14 appearances last season, scored five of the team's first seven goals, including the game-tying and go-ahead goals in the third quarter. Junior attackman Joey Pezzimenti (Victor, N.Y./Victor/UAlbany) also recorded five points in his Dolphin debut as he netted three goals and dished out assists on the two goals not scored by Caves. Graduate student goalkeeper Matt Vavonese (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/Canisius) registered 10 saves in his debut as a Dolphin, including five in the third quarter as the Dolphins took the lead for good.

Caves, who made his first career start, opened the game's scoring just 1:26 into the contest.

Following almost five and one-half minutes of scoreless play, Brady Kearnan, a USILA All-America First Team selection a year ago, recorded his 11th goal of the season. Six minutes later, the Mavericks took their first lead of the game as TJ Heyder tallied his sixth goal of the season off a pass from Thomas Connors following the restart of a missed shot.

Le Moyne scored the only two goals of the second quarter. Just 51 seconds into the period, Caves found the back of the net to tie the score at two. Pezzimenti tallied his first goal as a Dolphin with 7:08 remaining in the half to put the Dolphins in front.

Mercy, which scored 44 goals in its first two games of the season, scored three times in the opening 82 second of the third quarter to take the lead back. Andrew Calabria tied the score at three 40 seconds into the period off a feed from Gibbons. Just six seconds later, Kearnan put the Mavs in front off a pass from face-off specialist PJ Argiros. Gibbons, a USILA All-America First Team selection last year, extended the lead to two 36 seconds later to force a Le Moyne timeout.

Following a turnover by the Mavericks on the next possession, the Dolphins rattled off four straight goals over a span of 5:12 to take a two-goal lead of their own. Pezzimenti started the run with 12:00 to go. Just 48 seconds later, Caves tickled the twine to even the score at five apiece. After two saves by Vavonese, Caves finished off a feed from graduate student midfielder Sam Lambert (Victor, N.Y./Victor) with 8:15 left to give the Dolphins the lead. Following another save by Vavonese, Caves capped the streak by registering his fifth goal of the contest with 6:48 remaining off a pass from redshirt sophomore midfielder Ethan Loun (West Linn, Ore./West Linn).

Gibbons pulled the Mavericks within one with his 10th goal of the season with 4:33 remaining in the third quarter.

Le Moyne tallied the first three goals of the fourth quarter to take a four-goal advantage. Loun, who served as a valuable member of the scout team last year as a redshirt, started the scoring in the period by finishing off a pass from Pezzimenti just 34 seconds into the quarter. Following a pair of turnovers by the Mavericks around a save on a Le Moyne shot, Pezzimenti completed his hat trick with 10:20 remaining in the game. Just 41 seconds later, Pezzimenti fed sophomore attackman Isaac Frechette (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) for Le Moyne's 10th goal of the game.

After being held scoreless for almost 12 minutes, Mercy scored the final two goals of the game, but were unable to complete the comeback. Brody Caskenette ended the scoring drought with his first goal of the season with 7:46 to play. Calabria recorded his third goal of the campaign 83 seconds later off a cross-field pass from Kearnan.

Mercy committed turnovers on each of its next three possessions, during which the Mavs were unable to put a shot on target, and the Dolphins were able to run out the final two minutes of the game after the third turnover.

Le Moyne (1-0), which improves to 4-0 at home against the Mavericks, returns to action on Sunday against Catawba College at 11:00 a.m. at historic Homewood Field on the campus of Johns Hopkins University.