April 26, 2009--The Mount St. Mary's men's lacrosse team will host #7 Johns Hopkins Monday night at Waldron Family Stadium on campus. It will be a historic night as it will be the first-ever night game at the three-year old facility. The lights were installed earlier this spring.

The Mount (5-8, 5-3 MAAC) is coming off a 13-3 victory over Wagner on Saturday that clinched the team's first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference playoff berth since the 2006 season. Freshman Jake Willertz tallied his first career hat trick with a three-goal effort in the victory while fellow freshman Cody Lehrer posted two goals and an assist in the victory.

Goalkeeper T.C. DiBartolo has been a stalwart in the cage for the Mount this year, registering a 7.77 goals against average and a .614 save percentage. DiBartolo has twice made 21 saves in a game this year and has tallied 151 saves on the season.

The Mount has had a balanced offense this year with 21 different players scoring a goal on the year. Freshman Christian Kellett leads the team with 24 points on 11 goals and 13 assists while fellow freshman Lehrer has 22 points on a team-high 15 goals and seven assists.

Three Mount players will be playing their final home game of their career on Monday night. The trio, honored on Saturday in a Senior Day ceremony, include graduate students Shaun Moran and Brendan Flanagan and senior Geery Grant.

Johns Hopkins has won four straight games to move to 7-4 on the season. The Blue Jays are coming off an exciting 11-10 overtime win over Towson last Wednesday. Brian Christopher scored three times while Michael Kimmel chipped in two goals and three assists in the victory. Kimmel leads the team with 35 points on 17 goals and 18 assists while Kyle Wharton has a team-high 24 goals and is tied for second on the team with 33 points. Michael Gvozden is the starting goalkeeper with a 9.88 goals against average and a .500 save percentage.

The Mount and Johns Hopkins have met in each of the past three seasons with the Blue Jays winning all three times. Last year, Johns Hopkins earned a 12-1 victory over the Mount on April 28. In 2007, the Mount lost to Johns Hopkins, 15-3, at Waldron Family Stadium on April 30.

Mount St. Mary's has won four of its past five games to earn the No. 2 seed at the upcoming MAAC Tournament. The Mount will face No. 3 seed Manhattan at 4:30 p.m. in the MAAC semifinals hosted by Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y. Top-seeded Siena will face No. 4 seed Providence in the other semifinal matchup.

The Mount has qualified for six of the nine MAAC Tournaments held since they began in the 2000 season, advancing to the MAAC title game five times. The Mount won the MAAC Championship in both the 2001 and 2003 seasons.