MORRISVILLE, N.Y. – The 2015 season was a banner year for the Mustangs. This was the first ever appearance for the Morrisville State Men's Lacrosse program in the NCAA Division III Tournament as they captured their second NEAC Tournament Championship along with their fourth NEAC Regular Season Championship. Head Coach Jason Longo was honored as the NEAC Coach of the Year and Chris Fiore (Staten Island, N.Y.) was named NEAC Defensive Player of the Year. In all, six members of the Mustangs were named to the respective first, second and third NEAC All-Conference Teams.

The Morrisville State College Mustangs (11-6) historic season, however, came to an end at the hands of #1 nationally ranked RIT (19-0), in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse National Tournament. RIT showed why they are the number one men's lacrosse team in the country by using full field pressure on defense to cause turnovers, quick transitions from defense to offense and working a patient, methodical offense in the attack zone en route to a 24-3 victory over the Mustangs.

The Tigers started off by scoring the first six goals of the game before Louie Geswaldo (Lafayette, N.Y.) scored off a turnover to make it 6-1. RIT responded with another goal but Andrew Donoghue (Rochester, N.Y.) fired right back with one of his own out of a timeout to pull the Mustangs to within five at 7-2. Ten seconds later, the Tigers would score again right before the end of the period to give RIT an 8-2 advantage.

To start the second period, RIT tallied five unanswered goals before Eliud Evans (Culver City, Calif.) scored off of an assist from John Sherlock (Tully, N.Y.) to make it 13-3. That would be the last goal for the Mustangs on the afternoon as the Tigers went on to score eleven more times for the 24-3 win. Chris Fiore made ten saves in the loss.

RIT was led by Ryan Lee who scored four times plus two assists with Kyle Aquin, John Hill and Allister Warren netted three goals apiece. Pat Johnson picked up the win making four saves. RIT outshot the Mustangs 46-15 and held the advantage in ground balls by a 45-16 margin. RIT moves on to the Second Round of the NCAA's to face Union who defeated Nazareth 15-12 in overtime.

Morrisville State's curricula are enriched with applied learning and pave the way for opportunity at both the Morrisville and Norwich campuses. An action-oriented, interactive learning lab, the college is a national leader in technology and has been lauded for its exemplary, innovative and effective community service programs.

In addition to being named to the 2014 President's Higher Community Education Service Honor Roll, the college was recognized by U.S. News and World Report as an institution in the top tier of the Best Regional Colleges list and ranked second among regional colleges nationwide for outperforming its anticipated graduation rate. For more information visit www.morrisville.edu.