Bronx, N.Y. (March 14, 2009)--Mount St. Mary's defeated Manhattan, 12-9, in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Gaelic Park. Eleven of the Mount's 12 goals were scored by freshmen.

Freshman attack Christian Kellett (Norristown, Pa./The Malvern Prep) paced the Mount with six points on three goals and three assists. Not to be outdone, freshmen attack Jonny Lefferts (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) and freshman midfielder Anthony Golden (Timonium, Md./Loyola Blakefield) each added their first career hat tricks in the victory.

The Mount (1-3, 1-0 MAAC) took control of the game early, scoring the first five goals of the contest. Golden opened the scoring on a feed from Kellett 3:01 into the game. Two minutes later, the Mount grabbed a two-goal advantage when Lefferts found the back of the cage on a pass from Jim O'Shea (Rockville Center, N.Y./Chaminade). Kellett gave the Mount a 3-0 edge heading into the second quarter with his first goal of the game.

Lefferts and freshman Jake Willertz (Severn, Md./Mount St. Joseph) each scored goals to open the second quarter with Kellett assisting on both scores. The Jaspers (1-4, 0-1 MAAC) got back into the game with back-to-back scores, but Willertz tallied an extra-man score with freshman Cody Lehrer (Baltimore, Md./Dulaney) recording the assist on the play. Manhattan's Luke Dilillo posted an unassisted goal with 1:07 left in the first half to make the score 6-3.

Manhattan rallied in the second half, cutting the Mount's lead to 9-8 with 10:41 left in the game. Golden and Kellett sandwiched goals around one from Manhattan's Sal Spatarella to make the score 8-4 in the third quarter, but the Jaspers proceeded to score four of the next five goals to get back into the game.

Justin Jensen and Spatarella each scored to close out the third quarter for Manhattan while James Synowiecz and Erich Smith tallied back-to-back markets after the Mount's Golden opened the fourth quarter scoring to make the score 9-8.

Sophomore Brendan Harrison (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron) stemmed the Manhattan momentum with his first goal of the season to give the Mount a 10-8 advantage with 5:53 remaining. Lefferts completed his hat trick a minute and a half later on an assist from Nick Raines (Woodbridge, Va./Bishop O'Connell) to give the Mount an 11-8 lead and some extra breathing room.

Spatarella added his fourth goal of the game just nine seconds after the Lefferts goal, but Kellett sealed the win with his third goal of the game with 1:47 left in the contest.

Kellett's six-point game (3g, 3a) paced the Mount while Golden and Lefferts added their hat tricks. Lehrer posted a career-best three assists in the game for the Mount while Willertz added his first two collegiate goals.

In goal, the Mount's T.C. DiBartolo (Bowie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) made seven saves to earn the win. He also picked up a team-high seven ground balls in the contest. Manhattan's John Geagan made five saves while allowing all 12 goals in 59:19 of action.

The shots were even at 29 apiece in the game while the Jaspers held a narrow 43-39 advantage in ground balls. The Mount was 1-for-5 on extra-man opportunities while Manhattan went 0-for-4 in EMO's.

The Mount returns to action next Saturday, March 21, with a 1:00 p.m. home game against conference rival Marist at Waldron Family Stadium on campus.

Game Notes...The Mount now holds an 11-6 lead in the all-time series with Manhattan. The Jaspers had won the previous two meetings. Freshman have now scored 18 of the Mount's 22 goals this season. The Mount had scored 10 goals over the first three games of the season before netting 12 in today's contest. DiBartolo now has an 8.00 goals against average and a .632 save percentage on the year.