NASHUA, N.H. - Curry College was propelled by a four-goal, one-assist effort from Matt Serra (Haverhill, Mass.) while Devin Newell (Medford, Mass.) added three goals and one assist in a 14-7 win at Rivier University on Saturday at Raider Field.
The Colonels (3-5 overall) built a 3-2 lead after one and a 10-4 advantage at the break. The Raiders opened the contest with a tally from Dylan McSparren (Warwick, R.I.) off an assist from Eric Guinasso (Pelham, N.H.). The goal was answered by a 3-0 run, all from the stick of Serra. Tyler Price (Oakdale, Conn.), Kevin Doherty (Oakdale, Conn.), and Newell registered assists on the Serra tallies. Rivier halted the run when Colby Larsen (Windham, N.H.) found the back of the net with 18 seconds left in the frame to cut the deficit to one at the end of the first quarter.
The second stanza featured nine combined goals. Jake Stebbins (Colchester, Vt.) and Serra put up consecutive markers nearly a minute and half into the second frame. Larsen collected his second tally of the afternoon on an assist from Guinasso to pull the Raiders to within two, 5-3 with 10:56 left. With every Rivier goal, the Colonels had an answer of two or three in a row. Following the Larsen tally, Tom Cashin (Boxford, Mass.) and Zach White (Milford, Conn.) put up unassisted goals to push the score to 7-3. Liam Ryan (Dorchester, Mass.) stopped the mini-run with a score for Rivier but three goals over the final 3:50 sent the lead to 10-4 at the intermission.
The squads traded goals in the third as Curry carried a 12-6 lead into the final quarter. Andrew DeLeary (Wakefield, Mass.) finished off a pass from Serra to open the stanza. Nearly three minutes later, Larsen netted his third goal for a hat trick from a pass from Sean Brady (Tewksbury, Mass.) with 9:55 remaining. Newell and Guinasso each collected goals over the final 2:20 of the quarter as the Colonels had a 12-6 lead with one quarter to go.
Curry started the scoring in the final quarter on a goal from Newell. The next goal wouldn't come until the 2:19 mark when Brady put a shot past Josh Teller (Milford, Conn.), but the Colonels would get on the board once more when Matthew Scahill (Gales Ferry, Conn.) put up the final goal of the contest as Curry doubled up Rivier for the 14-7 final.
Serra paced the Colonels with five points on four goals and one assist. Newell ranked second on the team with four points, recording a hat trick plus an assist. Five other Colonels netted a goal apiece in the victory. White shined for Curry by winning 8 of 9 face-offs.
Larsen paced the Raiders (0-4 overall) with three goals on the afternoon. Guinasso finished with a goal and three assists to be the leading point recorder for the home team. Four different Rivier student-athletes registered goals to close the scoring column.
Teller posted six saves in goal for the Colonels, facing 12 shots. Matt Cloutman (Peabody, Mass.) registered 23 saves against 37 shots.
Curry finished with a decisive difference in total shots (53-26) and shots on goal (37-17).
Curry has now won three of its last four games and will next host Southern Maine on Tuesday, March 20 at 4:00 p.m.
