NEWARK, N.J. — A career performance from Jack Bowie and a competitive middle portion of the game helped keep the NJIT men's lacrosse team within striking distance of the two-time defending America East champion Vermont Catamounts but the Highlanders would ultimately see their two-game winning streak snapped by Vermont in a 16-10 defeat Saturday afternoon at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Bowie led all Highlanders with his first-ever four-goal outing. Owen Corry matched Bowie's point output with two goals and two assists while Garrett Muscatella added a pair of goals of his own. Rounding out the scoring for NJIT (2-5, 0-1 AE) were Gavyn Willson (1 G, 2 A) and Jack Mahony (1 G). Ryan Sininsky also registered the first assist of his career.
• Liam Brown posted a game-high 13 saves in defeat while corralling a team-high five ground balls and tying Beck Gozdenovich on caused turnovers with two.

FIRST QUARTER

• NJIT struck first out the gate on an unassisted goal from Muscatella at the 12:54 mark but Vermont (3-4, 1-0 AE) went on a 5-0 run that was stopped - and bookended - by another Muscatella goal with 5:44 to go.

SECOND QUARTER

• Muscatella's second and final goal to end the first was followed up by Bowie's first to start the second (14:52), with an assist from Willson. After UVM pushed their lead back up to three (6-3) with 5:11 left until halftime, an Owen Corry-fueled two-goal spurt (one assist to Bowie, one goal) won the quarter for NJIT and trimmed the Catamounts' lead to only one, 6-5.

THIRD QUARTER

• After Vermont opened the scoring in the second half to go back ahead by two (7-5), a Bowie goal from a Ryan Sininsky pass brought the score back to within one again, 7-6, with just over ten minutes in the quarter.
• UVM would net two of the final three goals of the frame but the one NJIT goal - the last of the quarter - was Bowie's fourth and set the score to 9-7 going into the fourth.

FOURTH QUARTER

• Beginning with Mahony's goal off a Willson dish (12:37), NJIT and UVM alternated on the first four scores of the fourth. The third of those four goals was an unassisted strike from Corry that made the game a one-score affair (10-9) with about ten minutes left.
• However, the Catamounts had one more run in them and pulled away from the Highlanders with another 5-0 run to extend their advantage to 15-9. 
• A man-up connection from Corry to Willson and a last second score from Vermont would set the final score.

OTHER NOTES

• Bowie is the third different Highlander to go for four goals in a game, following Muscatella last week against Lindenwoond (Mar. 11) and Willson in the season opener at Siena (Feb. 11).
• Brown now has 108 saves on the season and is the first keeper in the America East to pass the 100-save plateau this year.

PROGRAM PROGRESS

• The six-goal deficit is the smallest for NJIT in its five-game history against Vermont. Along with the Highlanders keeping the contest to a one-score game in the fourth against the defending conference champs, NJIT showed a lot of growth in Saturday's match.

NEXT UP
NJIT will hit the road for the first time in a month next week (Saturday, March 25) for a matchup at Binghamton at 1 p.m.