EASTON, Pa. --- The NJIT men's lacrosse team suffered its second defeat of the season, a 14-10 loss to the Lafayette College Leopards Saturday afternoon at Fisher Stadium.

Seniors Aaron Forster and Ryan Darrow each tallied four points (3 G, 1 A) to lead the Highlanders. Junior John Tachon scooped up a team-high seven ground balls and senior Tyler Stevenson won 20-of-26 faceoffs.

NJIT (0-2) and Lafayette (1-1) went back and forth on the first six goals during the game's opening nine minutes. Sophomore Collin Fogerty's goal with 11:15 left in the first knotted the game at 1-1 and senior Aaron Forster put up a pair of goals by the 6:17 mark to make the score 3-3. Lafayette ended the quarter on a 4-0 run to take a 7-3 edge into the second.

The second quarter saw both offenses slow down a bit. Redshirt junior Grant Toller scored the first goal of the period with 7:18 left before Lafayette answered less than two minutes later to go ahead 8-4 before half. 

The second half was played to a 6-6 standstill, with NJIT talking momentum into its next game by winning the fourth quarter, 3-2. Forster clinched his hat trick with an unassisted goal in the third (8:16) and Darrow followed suit by putting home two of the Highlanders' three goals in the fourth.

OTHER NOTES

• Forster's hat trick is his seventh all-time and first since he tallied three against Wagner on March 24, 2018. The senior now has 14 career games with three or more goals scored. Darrow recorded a hat trick for the first time in his career.
• Darrow's three goals gives him 37 for his career, surpassing Joe Lomeli for second place all-time at NJIT.
• Stevenson set a new career high with his 20 successful faceoffs, topping his previous high of 17 against Hampton on April 15, 2017.

NEXT UP
The Highlanders will host Delaware for their home opener on Saturday, February 16 at 1 p.m. The contest and all home games in 2019 will be at Rutgers-Newark's Alumni Field.