LYNDHURST, N.J. – Felician University freshman attackman Robert Grasso (Islip, N.Y./Islip) recorded five goals and an assist but the Golden Falcons were defeated by visiting St. Thomas Aquinas College, 14-10, in non-conference men's lacrosse action on Tuesday evening at the Lyndhurst Recreation Complex.

Grasso turned in the second-most prolific individual scoring game by a Golden Falcon in the program's three-year history. Teammate Ausar Wright (Pemberton, N.J./Ewing) had eight goals and one assist in a loss to the University of the District of Columbia last week.

Sophomore Anthony Mechkowski (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) had two goals and two assists for Felician (0-3), while Wright accumulated two goals, one assist and six ground balls. Senior attackman Tyler Senatore (West Haverstraw, N.Y./North Rockland) led St. Thomas Aquinas with five goals. Senatore took 21 shots on the night, more than twice as many as any other player.

The Spartans outshot Felician, 49-28. Golden Falcon junior goalkeeper Pat Hemmer (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) kept his team competitive by making 21 saves. It was his sixth career outing with 20 more saves, including his second this season. Hemmer also surpassed 400 saves for his college career, exiting the night with 415. Hemmer stopped Senatore on 10 occasions.

The teams were within two goals of each other for the first 44 minutes, 14 seconds. After the hosts took a 3-1 lead fewer than five minutes into play, the teams went scoreless for nearly eight minutes of game time before a Timothy Zimnoch (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) marker left STAC down a goal after one period.

The Spartans also had the last word in period two. After Thomas Chiapperino (Blauvelt, N.Y./Tappan Zee) found the cage at the 0:39 mark, the sides went into halftime deadlocked, 5-5.

Grasso gave Felician a 7-6 edge with 8:38 remaining in the third quarter. The Golden Falcon offense would then go cold for more than 19 ½ minutes. During that span, Felician committed nine turnovers and attempted only five shots, putting two on goal.

STAC tallied the final four goals of the third, including again notching one in the final minute, for a 10-7 edge. That scored held until the middle stages of the fourth. The Spartans struck at the 8:50 and 6:22 marks, then scored with a man advantage at 4:19 for a 13-7 lead. Grasso rattled the cage three times in 49 seconds, the final one with 3:13 left to rally his side to within 13-10, but the hosts never scored again.

Felician committed 27 turnovers and was only able to induce 13 from its guests. Golden Falcon faceoff man Jose McLean-Byrd (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) went 21 for 26 and picked up 11 ground balls. McLean-Byrd owns all five double-figure ground-ball games in Golden Falcon history. Junior attackman Anthony Hanratty (Hewitt, N.J./West Milford) had one goal, one assist, and five ground balls.

Senior Ryan Guild (New Windsor, N.Y./Cornwall Central) earned the victory in goal for STAC (1-2) with 10 saves. Chiapperino and Anthony Irizarry (Middletown, N.Y./Middletown) (one assist) registered three goals apiece.

Felician travels to Worcester, Mass., on Saturday for a noon faceoff with Assumption College.