Box Score DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Senior Andrew Johnson (Hopkinton, Mass.) netted his first collegiate hat trick as the Corsairs dropped an 11-10 decision to visiting MIT on Tuesday night. In a game of traded goals, the Corsairs led for the majority of the game until five minutes remained on the game clock. UMass Dartmouth falls to 2-5 on the year, while MIT improves to 6-2.
Johnson led all players with eight ground balls, adding two caused turnovers defensively. For the Engineers sophomore Graham Davis (Crofton, Md.) registered five goals, four in the second half, to carry MIT offensively.
The Corsairs came out of the gates hot, scoring the first three goals of the game in a matter of six minutes. Jackson found the back of the net first only 93 seconds after the opening whistle. He was followed by goals from classmate Alex Lucas (Brookfield, Mass.) and sophomore DJ Miller (Ashland, Mass.). Senior Steve Merrick (Methuen, Mass.) was credited with assists on the second and third goals.
MIT answered back at 6:36, when junior Michael Traub (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) potted his tenth goal of the season. Corsair senior Tyler Prentice (Chelmsford, Mass.) scored his first goal of the 2016 campaign to stretch the Corsair's lead back to three.
Junior Harris Stolzenberg (Weston, Fla.) then struck with six seconds remaining in the first quarter to bring the Engineer deficit back to two.
Senior Bo Prozinski (Ashland, Mass.) tallied his team leading 27th goal to open up the second quarter, followed by a Merrick goal less than a minute later to build UMass Dartmouth's lead to four.
The Engineers then came roaring back to tie the game at six right before halftime. Four separate Engineers scored over a stretch of eight minutes, until UMass Dartmouth senior Zach Drolette (Burlington, Vt.) closed out the half, scoring with only two seconds remaining to put the Corsairs up 7-6.
Coming out of the break, Johnson claimed his second goal of the evening before MIT drew even with goals from both Traub and Davis before the close of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter started like both the first and the third, with a goal from Johnson. MIT would eventually take the lead with three straight goals by Davis, to bring the advantage to 11-9. UMass Dartmouth would make a last-ditch effort to tie the game after a goal by Prentice with 40 ticks left to draw the game within one, but the MIT defense stood strong.
Senior Eric Bartell (San Diego, Calif.) picked up his sixth win of the year, making nine saves between the pipes for the Engineers. His counterpart, junior Matt LaFond (Bridgewater, Mass.) was credited the loss despite making six saves on the evening.
For the game, the Corsairs held the advantage in shots (40-29), ground balls (45-25) and faceoffs (14-9).
UMass Dartmouth will look to right the ship as they open up Little East Conference action and play host to the Plymouth State Panthers on Sunday at 1 p.m. MIT begins the NEWMAC schedule on Saturday, traveling to Coast Guard for a 1 p.m. start.
