BOSTON, MA – Freshman attackman Dean Driscoll (Cohasset, MA) and junior middie Pat Driscoll (Hingham, MA) combined for 12 points, including the game winning goal from D. Driscoll with 2:29 left to play in regulation to lift the University of Massachusetts Boston men’s lacrosse team over Curry College, 13-12, Thursday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center field on the campus of UMass Boston. With the victory, the Beacons improve to 5-8 on the year while the loss drops the Colonels to 5-10 overall.
With the game deadlocked at 12-12, the Beacons gained possession following a save by junior goalkeeper Anthony Fitti (Havertown, PA) and successfully navigated the ball into the Colonels zone. P. Driscoll was able to feed D. Driscoll with a pass from behind the net into the slot as the freshman did the rest, beating junior goalie Michael Hibbard (North Chelmsford, MA) up high for his sixth tally of the game to give UMB the 13-12 advantage. The Colonels had a great chance to send the game into overtime as UMass Boston committed two penalties with under a minute left to play in regulation but the Beacons defense was able to hold off Curry’s late push for the equalizer.
The Beacons carried a 10-9 lead into the fourth quarter thanks to a last second goal in the third by freshman attackman John Perro (Northbridge, MA). Perro fired a shot from the top of the box that at first appeared to be saved but was not completely controlled and just scooted over the goal line to break a 9-9 tied with just one tick left on the clock. It did not faze the Colonels as the visitors would score the first two goals of the fourth quarter to take the 11-10 lead on goals from junior middie Russell Lanham (Silver Springs, MD) at 14:30 and sophomore middie Joseph Natale (Haverhill, MA). The Beacons responded with two goals of their own as P. Driscoll was able to feed D. Driscoll both times, once at 9:14 and the other at 4:40 to help UMass Boston regain the 12-11 lead. Sophomore middie Andrew Navoni (Natick, MA) netted the equalizer for Curry just 37 seconds later at the 4:03 mark of the fourth to tie the game at 12-12 to set the stage for Driscoll’s late game heroics.
In the first quarter, the Colonels jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a Lanham score just 1:11 into the contest but UMass Boston would net the next two goals to take a 2-1 on tallies from junior middie Rob Uhrig (Boston, MA) and freshman defender Patrick McGoff (Charlestown, MA). The Colonels regained the lead at 3-2 following a score by Natale and freshman middie Harrison Foster (Saddle River, NJ) but two goals by P. Driscoll to close out the quarter propelled the Beacons into the second quarter with a 4-3 advantage.
UMass Boston opened up its largest lead of the game as D. Driscoll scored the first two goals of the second quarter to make it a 6-3 contest in favor of the hosts but Curry stormed back to score four of the next five goals in the game to help even the contest at 7-7 heading into the halftime intermission. Natale scored three of the Colonels second quarter goals while the other tally came from freshman attackman Connor Arnold (Clifton Park, NY).
With 10:59 to play in the third quarter, the Colonels regained the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter when senior John O’Donnell (Middleton, MA) potted his lone goal of the afternoon coming off an Arnold assist to make it 8-7 in favor of the visitors. Perro would answer for UMass Boston, scoring his second goal of the match at 6:55 into the third to even the score at 8-8 before Curry pulled ahead 9-8 on senior middie Michael Snyder’s (Lee, MA) first goal of the contest. Perro would then net UMass Boston’s final two goals of the quarter including the last second score to give the Beacons the momentum heading into the final quarter of play.
Fitti earned the win in net for UMass Boston, making 18 saves to improve to 3-5 on the season. Hibbard suffered the loss for the Colonels, making six saves in 39 minutes of action while sophomore goalie Timothy McGonagle (Concord, MA) made two saves during the other 21 minutes.
The Colonels outshot the Beacons 47-33 and dominated the face-offs winning 20 of the 27 on the afternoon but the Beacons were still able to pull out the home victory, improving to 4-1 this season at home against non-conference opponents.
UMass Boston will return to action on Saturday, April 23 when they travel to Plymouth, NH to face Plymouth State University in a Little East Conference matchup at 1:00 PM while Curry is back in action the same day for a 1:30 PM Commonwealth Coast Conference tilt in Dudley, MA vs. Nichols College.
(Game Recap Courtesy of UMass Boston Sports Information)
