CANTON, N.Y. – The #7/10 Union College men's lacrosse team outscored #9/12 St. Lawrence University 5-0 in the decisive fourth quarter as the Dutchmen improved to 7-0 for the first time in nearly a century with a 13-10 come-from-behind win on Friday night at North Country Field.
 
The victory is the seventh straight to start the season for Union (7-0, 1-0 Liberty League), marking the first time since 1929 – when Union won all seven games and was named the USILA co-national champions with Navy – that the Dutchmen have started the season with seven wins in a row.
 
Senior Peter Burnes had a huge game for the Dutchmen, scoring a game-high four goals with two assists for six points. Classmate Hayden Frey added two goals and an assist, and sophomore Peter Kip had a pair of goals as well in the comeback victory.
 
Down 9-6 early in the third quarter, Union dominated in the second half of play, scoring seven of the game's final eight goals – including all five in the pivotal fourth frame – to emerge victorious in the nationally ranked battle. Frey and sophomore Justin Greene scored for the visitors in the third quarter to get the team back within one before a late goal put SLU up 10-8 entering the fourth.
 
But the opening two minutes of the fourth completely changed the game, as three goals in 52 seconds swung momentum to the visitors. Burnes started the run with his third of the game on the opening possession of the period. Frey's second of the night knotted the score at 10 just 1:39 into the period, and that was followed by a quick transition strike by junior Clint Gourdeau to give Union back the lead only 1:52 into the period.
 
Burnes continued the run with another goal to put the visitors up 12-10 with 12:02 on the clock, and then the Union defense took over from there. Sophomore Dan Donahue made four big saves and the defensive unit killed off a penalty and caused three turnovers the rest of the way to secure the win.
 
Donahue continued to play well between the pipes, finishing the night with 13 saves. Sophomore Matthew Paolatto had an excellent night at the faceoff X, winning 12-of-15 draws and grabbing a game-high nine ground balls, while senior Ryan Puglisi caused three turnovers and grabbed three ground balls to lead the defense.
 
After SLU scored on the first possession of the game, Burnes and classmate Brian Davis found the net to give Union its first lead of the evening. However, the Saints scored three of the next four goals to take back the lead at 4-3 at the end of the opening frame. Kip and senior Kieran McGovern scored 1:06 apart to even the score at five midway through the second period, but the home team scored three in a row to take the biggest lead of the opening half at 8-5 with 3:29 left. Burnes got one goal back before halftime, as the visitors still trailed at the break but came out ready for a comeback in the second half.
 
Union will continue its very challenging slate on Tuesday, when the team heads on the road to take on national power Tufts University at 6 p.m. in Medford, Mass.