CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Curry College men's lacrosse team dropped a non-league tilt at M.I.T. on Tuesday evening by a score of 12-9. After the match-up, the Colonels sit at 0-4 while the Engineers up their record to 4-1 on the year.
After a scoreless opening 11 minutes, the hosts burst onto the scoreboard with four late goals in the final four minutes of the first quarter. Gavin Vandenberg (Elmhurst, Ill.) started the scoring before the run was capped by James Santoro (Tewksbury, N.J.) with 42 seconds to go.
M.I.T. extended their lead with a quick goal in the second, but back-to-back Colonel goals by Cameron Nigro (Scarborough, Maine) and Andrew DeLeary (Wakefield, Mass.) brought Curry right back into the game at 5-2. The hosts would close the half strong, however, tallying three more scores before the horn to take an 8-2 edge into halftime.
The teams went back-and-forth in the third, trading goals to bring the score to 10-3. However, with 5:00 left to play, the Engineers converted a man-up opportunity as Jonathan Monahemi (Great Neck, N.Y.) scored off a helper from Aidan Westley (Palos Verdes, Calif.). Faced with an eight-goal deficit, the Colonels secured the final goal of the stanza, thanks to a Dane Hanson (East Providence, R.I.) marker. Senior Harrison Fallon (Wrentham, Mass.) earned the assist on the score.
74 seconds into the final frame of regulation, Santoro struck again for M.I.T., becoming the third Engineer to notch a hat trick in the contest and making the score 12-4. However, the contest was far from over. Less than a minute later, Fallon connected with Hanson once more to give Curry their fifth goal of the day. With 10:56 to play, DeLeary found the back of the net for the second time of the afternoon, cutting the hosts' lead to just six. The score would stand over the next seven minutes of action, but the Colonels' rally had not yet ended. Over the course of 95 seconds, the Engineers were hit with two separate slashing penalties and Curry took advantage with a pair of man-up goals. DeLeary contributed to both scores, recording his hat-trick goal on the first opportunity, before assisting Fallon on the second. With under a minute left on the clock, Nigro put in his second score of the day to bring the lead all the way back down to three at 12-9. However, despite scoring the game's last five goals, the Colonels' comeback effort ran out of time and the visitors dropped the decision by a final score of 12-9.
The Engineers guarded the net by committee, employing three different goalies in the contest, but it was Lukas Drexler-Bruce (Denver, Colo., 4-1) who earned the win after making eight saves in just under 40 minutes in the cage. Mike Collins (Franklin, Mass., 0-4) collected 23 saves on the other side of the field, despite being saddled with the loss. Andrew Palleiko (Hopkinton, Mass.) grabbed an impressive nine ground balls for the hosts, while he and Jay Theriault (Boxford, Mass.) combined to win 19 of 24 face-offs.
The Engineers will remain in Cambridge, as their schedule resumes with a Saturday, March 14 match-up against the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The Colonels will get back on the field on Friday, March 13, as they travel down to the U.S. Lacrosse Headquarters in Sparks, Md. Curry will play two games in Maryland as part of the 2020 New England Lacrosse Classic. The team's first game will be an 8:30 a.m. tilt on Friday against the Eagles of Husson University.
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