The King's College men's lacrosse team pulled to within two of visiting Susquehanna at 7-5 midway through the third quarter, but a 5-0 run by the River Hawks pushed them past the Monarchs 12-6 in non-conference action from Betzler Field at McCarthy Stadium Saturday. The Monarchs trailed 2-0 after the first period of action, as the slow first quarter saw strong defensive play and sound goalkeeping on both sides. Senior Matt Basile made five saves in the cage for the Monarchs in the opening stanza, while both teams were successful on all of their combined 13 clear attempts. King's would get on the board in the second period, as Jared Gambino tallied his third of the season with help from Brian Steiger to cut the River Hawk deficit to one. SU's Colton Dick posted back-to-back goals over the next six minutes, one on the extra-man opportunity, followed by a Jack Harper score to grow the River Hawk's lead back up to four at 5-1. Monarch sophomore Gabe Vansuch was able to stop the SU run the next possession for King's, quick sticking a pass from Charlie Alessi in front to tally his fifth of the year. Dick would answer just 17 seconds later to give Susquehanna a 6-2 lead going into halftime. The stats in the second quarter were virtually identical, as both teams picked up 10 ground balls to go with shots favoring Susquehanna, 12-9. After the break, the Monarchs started to make their run following a Jack Donnelly goal from Susquehanna. Vansuch started a 3-0 run for the Monarchs, as he scored with help from Ryan Matusiewicz with 12:27 to go in the third period. Alessi would set up the next two goals from Gambino and Vansuch to close the gap to just two at 7-5 going into the fourth quarter. That's the closest the Monarchs would get though, as Susquehanna tallied five straight in the fourth quarter to pull away. King's was paced offensively by the four points from Alessi, as he posted a game and team-leading three assists along with six shots attempts. Vansuch also stood out, tallying a career-high three goals while adding three ground balls. Face-off man Trevor Douenias has his best day of the season thus far, as he won 12 of the 22 draws he attempted while leading King's with six ground balls. Gambino finished with two goals and five ground balls, and Steiger also added two assists. Defensively, Mike McDougal and Sam Moyer each posted two caused turnovers, and Michael O'Brien added three ground balls. Basile finished with 14 saves in the defeat, also picking up three ground balls. King's was 18-of-19 on clear attempts Saturday, but couldn't take advantage of any of their three extra-man opportunities. Susquehanna got foul goals from Dick, as he added two assists and four ground balls on 11 shots. Jack Gerrity and Jack Donnelly each tallied twice as well for SU (2-0), and keeper Dylan Abplanalp made eight saves in the win. Susquehanna outshot the Monarchs, 43-32, while holding a 42-34 ground ball edge Saturday. The Monarchs (0-3) will return to action next Saturday, March 2 at 1 p.m. in McCarthy Stadium, hosting Lycoming College in more non-conference action.