Box Score DANBURY, Conn. – Western Connecticut State University managed to hold off the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's lacrosse team's comeback bid, to earn a 11-10 Little East Conference win on Senior Day at the Westside Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 11-6 with four minutes remaining in the contest, the Corsairs fired off four unanswered scores in the following three and a half minutes to slash the deficit to one goal. Junior Tyler Prentice (Chelmsford, Mass.) jump started the run with an unassisted strike at 3:39. After an illegal cross-check penalty on the Colonials, junior Bo Prozinski (Ashland, Mass.) scored a man-up goal to bring the visitors within three scores with two minutes to play. Only 30 seconds later, Prentice narrowed the gap to two with his second goal of the contest.
Western Connecticut gave UMass Dartmouth another man-up opportunity beginning at 1:10 and junior Connor Gaffney (Andover, Mass.) beat the goalie with 32 seconds remaining, leaving the visitors only one goal away from tying the score.
Junior Dan Brown (Beverley, Mass.) controlled the ensuing faceoff and set up the Corsairs with a chance to send the contest into extra time. After a time out by UMass Dartmouth, freshman DJ Miller was presented with an opportunity to knot the game at 11-all, but his shot attempt was saved by Western Connecticut's Kevin Seery to preserve the win.
Gaffney and Prozinski led the Corsairs with three scores a piece, while Prentice added a pair of goals. Sophomore Matt Lafond (Bridgewater, Mass.) turned away 14 shots in net for UMass Dartmouth.
Leading the Western offensive effort was senior Nick Foley with three goals, while juniors John Foristall and Jake Pantani scored two each. Junior Nate Wilson, junior Tim Hanlon, junior Jesse Beatty and sophomore Patrick Mulligan each scored once. Senior Anthony Nejame handed out a game-high four assists for the Colonials.
UMass Dartmouth jumped out to a two score lead with goals from Gaffney and Miller in the opening three minutes of play. Western got on the board with an unassisted goal by Mulligan at the 10:53 mark and evened things at 2-2 three minutes later on a goal by Beatty, assisted by Nejame.
UMass Dartmouth wasted little time taking the lead back, scoring seven seconds later. Western State took a 4-3 lead at the end of the first quarter by scoring twice in the last minute and a half with Nejame assisting on goals by Foley and Foristall.
Foley scored early in the second quarter for Western Connecticut to put the Colonials up 5-3, and the score remained unchanged over the next five minutes until junior Alex Lucas (Brookfield, Mass.) broke through with a man-up goal for UMass Dartmouth to trim the lead to 5-4.
Pantani scored on a man-up opportunity for Western with four minutes remaining in the period and Foristall made the margin 7-4 going into the locker room at intermission on a goal with only three ticks remaining on the click.
Western Connecticut increased its lead to 9-4 early in the third quarter after goals from Wilson and Hanlon, but the Corsairs took the ensuing faceoff and scored quickly to make the score 9-5.
Midway through the third period, Foley and Pantani scored back to back goals for Western that gave to Colonials an 11-5 lead, but with less than 10 seconds remaining in the period, Gaffney got one back for UMass Dartmouth to trim the Western advantage to 11-6 going into the fourth quarter.
For the game, UMass Dartmouth held a 42-40 advantage in shots (17-2 in the fourth quarter), while Western Connecticut had a slight edge in ground balls, 30-28. Seery finished with 15 saves to earn the victory, while sophomore Matt Lafond (Bridgewater, MA) made 14 saves in a losing effort for UMass Dartmouth.
The Corsairs (6-8) slip to 2-3 amongst conference play, while the Colonials (4-10) improve to 2-3 in the Little East Conference.
The Corsairs will return to action at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21, when they host conference foe Salem State.
