EASTON, PA –NJIT men’s lacrosse broke its record for goals in a game in a hard-fought 12-11 loss at Lafayette on Tuesday night played at Fisher Stadium.
The 11 goals scored is a new program record, from the previous record of 10, which NJIT has achieved three times, the first time in 2015, the programs first year as a varsity program against Vermont on March 3.
The Highlanders (0-12) were led by Aaron Forster who tallied five points on a game-high four goals and one assist. Forster ties his own NJIT record for points in a game, with his five points tonight.
Ryan Darrow broke his scoring drought recording two goals and adding two assists, while Ryan Callaghan kept his point streak alive at 15 games with two goals of his own.
Matt Brown added a goal and an assist and Ryan Kaden and Cole Robillard each added a goal for NJIT.
The Highlanders also posted a season-high 11 face-off wins, all coming from Tyler Stevenson who was 11-22 from the circle.
For the Leopards (2-10), Conor Walters posted a game-high six points on three goals and three assists. Eric Joseph added a hat trick for Lafayette and Matt Close and Will McCarthy each added two goals.
The Highlanders won the first quarter 3-1 with goals by Darrow, Brown and Kaden.
For the first goal, Matt Brown saw Darrow cutting and passed it to him with Darrow charging forward and taking a shot from 15 yards out.
After Lafayette tied it up, Sanchez found Brown cutting to his left, and passed it to Brown who took the Leopard keeper one-on-one to score.
Kaden scored from 12 yards out off a pass from Forster for the last goal of the quarter.
The Leopards took over the second quarter outscoring NJIT 7-3
Callaghan was the first to score in the second, on a clear by Darrow, who raced up the field and found Callaghan in front of the net who faked the goalie and placed the ball in the back of the net.
With another goal by Lafayette, Forster scored his 25th goal of the season, beating two defenders with a turn and shot past the keeper.
The Leopards scored two more goals to diminish the Highlander lead, but Forster answered back off a long pass from goalie Nick Marzullo, carrying it another 20 yards and blasting a shot past the keeper.
Lafayette would score four unanswered goals with under five minutes remaining to take the 8-6 lead into halftime.
Adding on three more goals to their lead, the Leopards would take their biggest lead of the night 11-6 before NJIT would score again.
Senior Callaghan scored his second goal of the night, beating two defenders with three seconds remaining in the period, ending the third with Lafayette holding an 11-7 lead.
The Highlanders made their comeback in the fourth, scoring three of the quarters four goals.
Opening up the scoring again for NJIT was Darrow, bringing the Highlanders within three.
Lafayette scored their last goal of the game to secure their win, with a goal from Eric Joseph.
The Highlanders scored a man-up goal from Robillard at 7:44 to cut the lead once again.
Forster scored two more goals in the last three minutes to bring NJIT within one, 12-11 with 2:32 remaining in the game.
With 43 seconds remaining, the Highlanders had one more opportunity, when Marzullo made a save after Conor Walters shot and NJIT countered but were unable to finish.
Junior Marzullo made 14 saves in the loss, and Matthew Cortese earned the win with one save, and Wes Moshier entered in the second half and notched five saves.
NJIT travels to Hampton on Saturday to take on the Pirates for a 12pm game.
