New Haven, Conn. – The Norwich University men's lacrosse team held off a late, second-half rally by Albertus Magnus College (AMC) for the 10-6 victory on Saturday afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) matchup in the conference opener for both squads.

The Cadets bounced back from a midweek loss to improve to 2-6 overall and 1-0 in conference tilts, while the Falcons move to 3-3 on the year and 0-1 in league play with the loss.

The hosts got on the board quickly thanks to a strike from sophomore midfielder Paul Mirmina (Nilford, Conn.) just 15 seconds into the game. The unassisted tally was the fastest goal of the season for the Falcons and it would prove to be AMC's only lead of the contest. Following Mirmina's marker, Norwich ran off four unanswered scores capped by an unassisted goal from senior Matt Flaherty (Portland, Maine) with 4:02 left in the opening quarter. The Falcons closed out the scoring in the first courtesy of a blast from Tommy Gillen (Port Jervis, N.Y.) to trail by two at 4-2 heading into the second frame.

In the second, the Falcons scored two goals in a row, highlighted by Justin Bennet's (Fairfield, Conn.) first of the day to knot the game at four. With just under two minutes left in the first half, Norwich senior Ryan McCarthy (Medford, Mass.) gave the guests the lead for good with the first of his two scores on the day.

The Cadets scored two goals in the third and held the Falcons off the board to take a 7-4 edge into the final stanza. Albertus pulled with two at 7-5 following Bennet's second of the day midway through the fourth, but Norwich answered with three goals in a row to pull away.

In net, freshman Ian Kriger (Burlington, Mass.) turned aside 11 shots to earn his second win of the year. On the opposite end, AMC sophomore Jack Kerner (Merrick, N.Y.) made 12 saves in a losing effort, while Falcon freshman John Brunetti (West Haven, Conn.) made one save in relief of Kerner.

Norwich is back in action on Wednesday, April 5 as the Cadets host Anna Maria College for the 4:00 p.m. GNAC contest.