The Belmont Abbey men's lacrosse team opened the 2011 season with a thrilling 10-9 win over the visiting Lenoir-Rhyne Bears this afternoon before a crowd of 300 at Alumni Field. The Abbey moves to 1-0, while Lenoir-Rhyne, playing its first game in the school's history, is 0-1.

Belmont Abbey led 6-4 at the half and 9-7 after three quarters to set up a thrilling finish. A Levi Capron goal with 13:18 left on the clock pulled the Bears to within one, but a Bears pushing penalty set up a Ryan Corrigan goal off of a Nick Boylan assist to extend the Abbey's lead to 10-8.

After an Abbey turnover, Anthony Mangili cut the deficit back to one with a goal at the 3:13 mark. From there, it was a wild finish that saw no goals, but Mangili nearly tied the game at ten with 22 seconds left after his shot hit the post. With the Abbey retaining possession, Dan Morrissey gained a successful clear into the Lenoir-Rhyne zone and ran out the clock to preserve the win.

Tanner Scharr led the Crusaders with four goals to go along with one assist. Boylan, Brendan Rogers, Corrigan, Morrissey, Scotty Steele and Joey Peruzzi all had one each. Boylan handed out three assists, while Rogers, Scharr and Brian Watson all had one each.

Peruzzi and Connor Doyle led the Crusaders with two caused turnovers apiece. Scharr's eight ground balls was a team-high. Tyler Kotch led the Bears with three goals, while Capron scored twice. Mangili, Robert Darrow, Fred Waddle and Luke Nealon all had one each. Sam Ashton had three assists.

The Crusaders outshot Lenoir-Rhyne 43-33, but the Bears dominated face-offs, winning 18 out of 21. Gus Ratcliff won 17 of 19 and led all players with 11 ground balls as the Bears held that edge 44-42.

Abbey goalkeeper Tony Kikola made 14 saves, but his 11th was the play of the game. Late in the third quarter, Mangili had a wide open net after Kikola was out of his crease, but Kikola raced to his right, dove full extension and swatted the shot away. L-R goalkeeper Anthony Stasio made 18 saves.