North Adams, MA - The Northern Vermont University-Lyndon men's lacrosse team opened the 2021 season with a North Atlantic Conference contest at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Saturday afternoon.  Unfortunately for the Hornets, the host Trailblazers emerged with a 6-3 victory in a game that was MCLA's opener as well.

The Hornets struck first when Benjamin Cheever (Johnson, VT) fired a shot past MCLA goalie Brady Larkin just under three minutes into the contest.  Just over a minute later the Trailblazers took advantage of a Lyndon penalty and tied things up in the man up situation when Matt Ortiz found Nicholas Waterman and Waterman put a shot in the top right corner past Lyndon goalie Aaron Florence (Lutz, FL).

Johnny Herbert's man down goal at the 7:22 mark gave MCLA a 2-1 lead but Taner Onor (East Montpelier, VT) quickly tied things up with an unassisted man up goal on the following Hornet possession.  Things stayed that way for the rest of the quarter, thanks in part to Florence's point blank save on Herbert in the waning seconds of the period.

Herbert put the Trailblazers back in front at the 10:49 mark of the second quarter when he scored off of an assist from Ortiz.  MCLA extened their lead to two goals at the 5:06 mark when Waterman scored for the second time, with an assist to Dan Cook.  That was all of the scoring in the quarter, as the Trailblazers took a 4-2 advantage into halftime.

Lyndon was first to get on the board in the second half.  Onor found a cutting Edward McNeil (Washington, DC), and McNeil fired a shot past Larkin to bring the Hornets within one at the 8:38 mark of the quarter.  MCLA's Brandon Murray made it a two-goal game again with under a minute to go in the quarter when he beat a Hornet defender, then put a shot in the bottom corner of the net.  The Trailblazers took the 5-3 advantage into the final quarter.

MCLA extended their lead to three goals with just under ten minutes remaining when Elias Clement scored with an assist from Herbert.  That would be the final tally of the game, as the Trailblazers came away with the victory.

MCLA outshot the Hornets, 42-27, and held a 47-34 advantage in ground balls.  Lyndon struggled to clear the ball at times, successfully completing only 15 of 28 opportunities, while the Trailblazers were successful on 22 of 28 clears.  Florence kept the Hornets within striking distance all afternoon, as he stopped 19 of 25 shots on goal.  His MCLA counterpart, Larkin, made eight stops on 11 Hornet shots on goal.

Lyndon senior midfielder Justin Servidori (Yarmouth, MA) recorded a team high eight ground balls to go over the 100 mark in his Hornet career.  He now has 101 total. Defender Luc Parrett (Eden Mills, VT) caused a game high five Trailblazer turnovers.

The Hornets will return to action next Saturday when they travel to Thomas College for another NAC contest.  Faceoff is scheduled for 1:00 pm.