MADISON, N.J. – Senior Riley Zeer erupted for a career-high nine points and the Drew University men's lacrosse team rolled to a 17-6 victory over Emmanuel College in the first round of the Leanos Cup Friday evening in a frigid Ranger Stadium.
 
With the win, Drew (2-2) advances to the tournament championship game, where it will take on Montclair State University on Sunday at 2 p.m. Montclair State defeated Emerson College 7-5 in the other first-round game on Friday.
 
The Rangers bolted out to a 9-0 lead, then thwarted an Emmanuel comeback with a 7-0 burst to open the second half.
 
Zeer racked up five goals and a career-high four assists. He notched two of his tallies in the first quarter and tossed in three consecutive goals in Drew's game-breaking second-half run.
 
Graduate student Joost van der Horst added three goals, one assist, and four ground balls for Drew while sophomore Nick Carabetta handed out a career-high four assists. Sophomore Vincent Rubio and freshman Yaneik Gallego scored two goals apiece, and sophomore Joseph Carabetta contributed one goal, one assist, and five ground balls. Junior Gabriel Gutierrez won 15-of-23 faceoffs and picked up eight ground balls, and freshman Josef Zengerle notched three caused turnovers. Senior Salvatore Desiderio registered four ground balls and two CTs.
 
Senior Sawyer Kennedy started in goal for Drew and made a pair of saves over 53 minutes.
 
Cooper Melhorn posted two goals and two assists for the Saints (1-1).
 
Freshman Kullen Mcdermott scored the game's first goal on a man-up situation just over a minute into the game. The Rangers piled on six more goals before the end of the period, with van der Horst and Zeer striking twice each. Rubio also scored in the quarter, while junior defenseman John Clinton also got into the act with his first collegiate goal.
 
Joseph Carabetta and Gallego capped Drew's game-opening run midway through the second quarter. But Emmanuel found a spark late in the half, reeling off four goals in the final 4:12 of the stanza to make it a 9-4 game at the break.
 
The Rangers settled any doubt in the third quarter, when it outscored the Saints 5-0. Gallego, van der Horst, and senior Joey Larmore all scored before Zeer scored the final two goals of the quarter as Drew's lead swelled to 14-4.
 
Zeer capped his career night when he found paydirt again with 8:45 left. Rubio tacked on another goal before senior Joe Mastrogiovanni delivered his first collegiate goal to finish off Drew's scoring for the night.
 
Drew and Montclair State will be meeting in a rematch of last year's Leanos Cup final, which the Red Hawks captured 17-9.