PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Curry College men's lacrosse team dropped a 12-11 overtime non-conference decision to Johnson & Wales University in their season opener on Wednesday afternoon. The win moves the Wildcats to 1-1 while the Colonels fall to 0-1.
The teams traded tallies in the first quarter as they were knotted at one. The home team got on the board 7:02 into the opening quarter when Eric Russo (West Grove, Pa.) took a pass from Max Stone (Burlington, Conn.) and fired a shot past Curry goalie Josh Teller (Milford, Conn.). The Colonels would answer back with the equalizer just 51 seconds as Jake Stebbins (Colchester, Vt.) registered a goal off an assist from MJ Urbano (Wakefield, Mass.).
Johnson & Wales edged the visitors in the second quarter scoring column, outscoring the Curry, 4-3. Erik Lindaas (Milford, Pa.) got things started with a goal off an assist from Russo to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. Two straight goals, a tally each from Andrew DeLeary (Wakefield, Mass.) and Matt Serra (Haverhill, Mass.) over a two-minute period gave the Colonels a 3-2 advantage with 10:46 to go in the half. Johnson & Wales quickly responded with two straight goals of their own, one apiece from Stone and Maxwell Morris (Suffield, Conn.) to swing the score back in favor of the home team. The squads traded goals over the final 1:12 of the opening half as Urbano and Lindaas each found the back of the net. The traded tallies still gave the Wildcats a 5-4 lead at the break.
Curry opened the second half with a 4-0 run spanning 3:15 of game action to grab an 8-5 advantage, thanks to goals from Urbano, Serra, Tom Cashin (Boxford, Mass.), and Stebbins. Johnson & Wales got one back with a goal from Ben Farrell (Baltimore, Md.) off an assist from Russo to make the score 8-6 with 4:22 left in the third stanza but the Colonels would answer with an unassisted tally from DeLeary to give Curry a 9-6 lead after three.
The Colonels were the first to strike in the final quarter of action as Cashin scored his second goal of the afternoon, this time off an assist from Harrison Fallon (Wrentham, Mass.). The Wildcats went on to outscore Curry 5-1 over the final 13:25 of regulation as the contest went into overtime knotted at 11.
In the overtime period, Farrell would net the game-winner with 15 seconds left to give Johnson & Wales the one-goal victory.
Bradley Morris (Bayport, N.Y.) registered the win in the cage for Wildcats. He made 23 saves in 62 minutes of action. Jake Sangiovanni (Centerport, N.Y.) was credited the loss, making seven saves in 32:03 of playing time.
Russo led all players with seven total points on two goals and five assists. Farrell put up five points on three goals and two assists while Lindaas and Stone finished with two points apiece.
Four different Colonels posted two goals apiece while Cashin netted three goals. Fallon recorded two assists to lead Curry in that category.
Curry will next play on Tuesday at Babson at 4:00 p.m. in a non-league contest. Johnson & Wales returns to action on Saturday when they head to Wheaton for a 1:00 p.m. faceoff.
