DARTMOUTH, Mass. - The Curry College men's lacrosse held off UMass.-Dartmouth by a final score of 13-12 in their season opener in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon. The Colonels improve to 1-0 while the Corsairs drop to 0-1.
Curry was led by junior Matt Serra (Haverhill, Mass.) who had five points on four goals and one assist. Sophomore MJ Urbano (Wakefield, Mass.) had an impressive day, netting three goals for a hat trick while freshman Jake Stebbins (Colchester, Vt.) added two goals and Tom Cashin (Boxford, Mass.) tallied two goals and an assist. Brandon Flaim (Pembroke, Mass.) and Devin Newell (Medford, Mass.) recorded a goal apiece to close out the scoring for the Colonels.
UMass.-Dartmouth opened the game with two straight goals: one each by Donovan Prozinski (Ashland, Mass.) and Tom Donohue (Gloucester, Mass.). A goal by Urbano would cut the Corsair lead in half at the 10:06 mark in the first stanza.
The home team tallied two goals in a row to build a three goal advantage over Curry with 7:27 left in the first quarter.
The Colonels would cut the deficit to two on a goal by Newell at the 5:47 mark but UMass.-Dartmouth would close the quarter with two straight goals to extend the lead to 6-2 after the first quarter of play.
Curry started the second quarter on a 4-0 run on goals by Newell, Cashin and two from Serra to knot the game at six at the 6:51 mark. Serra scored the equalizer on an assist from Urbano. After the Colonels had come back to tie the contest, just 51 seconds later, the Corsairs regained the lead. Jordan Torres (New Bedford, Mass.) gave the home team the lead and then Prozinski scored to put UMass.-Dartmouth up 8-6.
Following the goal by Prozinski, the Colonels would embark on a 5-0 run to grab an 11-8 lead. Serra capped off the run with his final tally of the day. The Curry defense held the Cosairs' scoreless in the third quarter and UMass.-Dartmouth couldn't find the back of the net until the 14:32 mark when Mike Rizzo (Bridgewater, Mass.) scored to cut the lead to two at 11-9.
Curry would answer right back on goals by Flaim and Urbano to push the lead back up to four with 6:55 remaining in regulation.
The Corsairs' would rally in the final 1:29, rattling off three straight goals to cut the Colonel lead to just one but Curry was able to preserve their win in the season opener.
Sophomore Josh Teller (Milford, Conn.) picked up the win, recording 10 saves. Matt LaFond (Bridgewater, Mass.) earned the loss, making 17 saves.
UMass.-Dartmouth led in ground balls at 37-36 and were 16-for-21 on clears. Both teams finished 14-for-28 in faceoffs.
Curry will return to action on Wed. Mar. 1 as the Colonels host Husson at 3:30 in their home opener. UMass.-Dartmouth will next play Sat. Mar. 4 as they travel to Norwich for a 1:00 p.m. faceoff.