MILTON, Mass. – In a Commonwealth Coast Conference match-up in men's lacrosse on Wednesday afternoon, Curry College lost to Salve Regina University, 16-5. The loss drops the Colonels to 5-4 on the year and 0-1 in the CCC while the Seahawks improve to 8-1 on the year and 1-1 in the league.
The Seahawks wasted little time as they were able to get on the board just 2:52 into the first quarter. Senior Chad Hollenshade (Lutherville, Md.) set himself up behind the goal to give a quick feed to freshman Nick LoCicero (Lynbrook, N.Y.) who bounced the ball into the net from about 10 yards out. Hollenshade then connected with sophomore Sharp Jones (Scituate, Mass.) in front of the cage as he earned his first of five goals on the day. Hollenshade put the Seahawks up by three on an unassisted tally before Curry got on the board with just over nine minutes to play. The Colonels picked up the ball off a Salve Regina turn over and cleared it into their offensive zone. Freshman John McMenomey (West Linn, Org.) ripped a high shot home past the Seahawk's freshman goalie Andrew Watkins (Natick, Mass.) to cut the Seahawk lead to 3-1.
Salve Regina then went on a seven-goal run that spanned the rest of the first quarter, all of the second and the start of the third. Jones and LoCicerco each scored a pair of goals in the run as the Seahawks took a demanding 10-1 lead with 3:19 to play in the third.
Junior Sean Ahern (Natick, Mass.) scored back-to-back goals for the Colonels to halt the Seahawk's scoring flurry. His first coming off as he corralled a rebound off a shot from senior Harrison Foster (Saddle River, N.J.) that ricocheted off the left post of the goal. With just 10 seconds showing on the clock, Ahern picked up a loose ball and sent it home to cut the lead to 10-3 in favor of Salve Regina.
The Seahawks opened the fourth quarter with three quick tallies from Hollenshade, Jones and senior Curtis McKeon (West Haven, Conn.). With 7:12 to play, sophomore Will Clancy (Lynn, Mass.) picked up a ground ball and cleared it to sophomore John Koning (Carlisle, Mass.). Koning took it himself into the Colonels offensive zone and beat Watkins high for Curry's fourth goal of the contest.
After LoCicerco fed the ball to Jones for his fifth goal of the game, sophomore James Fee (Massapequa, N.Y.) used a pair of assists from LoCicero to score two goals and push the Seahawk lead to 16-4 with 4:04 remaining in the contest. The last goal of the game came off the stick Koning, his second, as he brought the score to its final, 16-5.
For the Colonels, Koning and Ahern led the team with a pair of goals each. LoCicero led the Seahawks with eight points (3g, 5a) while Jones led all players with five goals.
In goal, Salve Regina's Watkins earned his eighth win of the year making 12 saves in just over 55 minutes of action while sophomore Timothy McNair (Wilmette, Ill.) suffered the loss for Curry in net making six saves in the first half and allowing nine goals. Freshman Shane O'Brien (East Falmouth, Mass.) finished the game in the net for the Colonels and made eight saves while allowing seven goals.
The Colonels return to action when they travel to Western New England on Saturday for a 1 p.m. CCC contest while the Seahawks welcome University of New England on Saturday as well for 3 p.m. opening face-off.