Juniors Ben Murtagh and Mark Mahoney each recorded a hat trick to lead the 10th-ranked St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team to a 17-9 win over Skidmore in Liberty League action on Saturday afternoon at North Country Field. Mahoney also tallied an assist for four points on the day and picked up five ground balls, while Stew Hutchinson finished with two goals and an assist and Guthrie Little also scored twice. Jack Hennessey, Peter Koch, Zadoc White, Chris Jordan, Alex Mapstone, Judge Murphy and Brett Williams all scored for the Scarlet and Brown, while Hennessey finished with three assists and Koch added two. Tripp Clark and Hayes Huwiler both caused two turnovers, while Brendan Brigham dominated the faceoff dot going 20-for-26 and picking up a team-best eight ground balls. The Saints scored three goals in the first five minutes of play and built a 6-2 lead over the Thoroughbreds with 4:23 to play in the first quarter. Skidmore scored the last goal of the first quarter and opened the second to bring the game within two, but an unassisted tally from Little and a goal from Murtagh gave the Saints an 8-4 lead. Williams scored his first of the season and Little recorded his second of the game to give St. Lawrence a 10-5 advantage at halftime. The Saints opened the second half on another three-goal run, with a goal from Koch and back-to-back tallies from Mahoney. After two goals from the Thoroughbred's, White fed Murtagh to put the Saints up 14-7, and Mahoney got knocked down by the Skidmore defense, maintained control of the ball and scored for his third of the game. The Thoroughbred's scored two goals in the fourth quarter, but were unable to overcome the lead the Saints had built. "It was a great day for lacrosse and I thought it was a real solid performance overall," said head coach Mike Mahoney '93, P '22, '24. "I was very happy that we got our transition game rolling today and were able to capitalize on some and a few near misses as well. Skidmore has some nice, young offensive talent and they made us battle for 60 minutes." Charlie Kessler led the Thoroughbreds with two goals and an assist, while Brandon Reilly also recorded two goals. Five other members of the Thoroughbred's squad each scored once with Matt Pinckney, Charlie McFadden and Ben Gastonguay recording an assist as well. Burke Logan grabbed three ground balls and caused one turnover. Saints' goalkeeper William Helm recorded the win with 10 saves, while Skidmore's Christopher Downey recorded 20. St. Lawrence outshot Skidmore 58-30 and held a 37-20 advantage in shots on goal. The Saints improved to 3-0 on the season and 2-0 in conference play, while Skidmore fell to 1-1 and 0-1. "We have a quick turnaround and some tough opponents coming up," Mahoney added. "So we will need to continue to get better every opportunity we get." The Saints are scheduled to play Plattsburgh State on Tuesday, April 6 at 7 p.m. in Plattsburgh.