POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Union College men's lacrosse team outscored Vassar College by an 14-4 margin over the final 33 minutes to overcome a slow start and overwhelm the Brewers by a score of 16-11 in Liberty League action on Saturday afternoon at Gordon Field.
Senior
Peter Kip recorded a season-high four goals and added an assist for a game-high five points to lead Union (4-9, 2-4 Liberty League), followed by junior
Walker Popko with four tallies. Sophomore
Mekhi Taylor (three goals) and senior
Archie McEvoy (one goal, two assists) both recorded three points apiece for the Garnet Chargers as well.
Sophomores
John Sula (seven ground balls) and
Jack Lucey (six ground balls) paced the defensive effort for the visitors, while classmate
Nick Lynch made 12 saves in goal.
Union outshot Vassar by a 33-16 margin over the first two quarters, but Vassar (5-9, 0-6 Liberty League) scored seven of the game's first nine goals to take a 7-2 lead with 4:29 left in the second stanza. However, goals from Kip, Popko and sophomore
Mike Wall gave the visitors some momentum headed into halftime and Union responded with the first five goals of the third to take a 10-7 lead. Kip and Popko scored twice each as part of the 5-0 third-quarter run, which was finished by a Popko tally with 6:41 on the clock.
Vassar got back within a goal by scoring the next two tallies, but Taylor killed the momentum less than a minute later. Junior
Matt McKenzie followed with his first of the year and first-year
Brendan Powers also netted his first collegiate goal as part of a game-ending 6-2 run to finish off the win.
Union ended the day with 69 shots fired at the net of Vassar's Drew Quinn, who made 17 saves to keep his team in the game. The Garnet Chargers doubled up the Brewers in ground balls, 48-24, helped by a combined 20-of-29 effort at the faceoff X from senior
Luke McHugh and junior
Luke Tranter.
Union will close out the 2025 campaign next Saturday with Senior Day against Rochester Institute of Technology beginning at 1 p.m. at Frank Bailey Field.
