Men's Lacrosse Tripped Up, 13-12 by Plymouth State

NEWTON, Mass. (3/11/14) – The Lasell College men's lacrosse team dropped a narrow 13-12 non-conference result to Plymouth State University on Tuesday afternoon at Grellier Field. The loss drops Lasell to 1-3 on the season while the Panthers improve to 1-1 overall for the 2014 campaign.

Andrew Suh (Colchester, Conn.) led the way offensively for Lasell with three goals and three assists and Dylan Fernandes (Billerica, Mass.) recorded a hat-trick of his own. Joe Cunning (Newton, Mass.) netted a pair of scores for the Lasers, while Josh Gallant (Hampstead, N.H.) and Casey Sullivan (Waterford, Conn.) each tallied a goal and an assist. Chris Thomas-Ikier (Burlington, Mass.) stopped 11 shots on the afternoon while taking the loss in goal for the Lasers.

Phil Pichel (Hopkinton, Mass.) paced the Panthers with three goals and one assist, while Brett Miller (Windham, N.H.) and Nick Pino (North Andover, Mass.) each posted hat-tricks for Plymouth State. Nick Morello (North Billerica, Mass.) chipped in a goal and an assist and Nick Annunciata (Waltham, Mass.) notched a pair for PSU, while Jesse Kutz (Hopkinton, Mass.) made nine saves to earn the win between the pipes.

Lasell got on the board first, capitalizing on a caused turnover by Derek Marshall (Cumberland, R.I.) who pushed in transition and fed a cutting Andrew Suh who fired it home to give Lasell a 1-0 lead. Zach Frank (Wakefield, Mass.) found Nick Morello three minutes later who equalized for the visitors, tying the game at 1-1. Suh found Casey Sullivan for a Lasell goal halfway through the opening quarter, and Dylan Fernandes netted his first on a bullet from the top with 14 seconds left in the quarter to make it 3-1 in favor of the hosts at the break.

Pichel and Suh traded goals to open the second quarter before Plymouth used a four-goal spurt ti take a 6-4 lead. Nick Pino started the run with an unassisted goal with 12:49 in the quarter followed by a pair of Brett Miller goals before a rocket from Annunciata found the top corner of the goal to cap the visitors run. Joe Cunning netted an unassisted tally with 7:37 left in the quarter, Chase Swift scored his first career goal and Fernandes notched his second of the game to with just over a minute left to restore the Lasers lead to 7-6 going into the half.

The Lasers put 11 of their first 15 shots on goal, scoring on seven of those efforts. Plymouth used a 12-3 edge in face-offs won in the opening half and a 19-8 advantage on groundballs to combat the Lasers efficient offensive attack.

Pichel scored his second goal of the game for PSU two and a half minutes into the third period, but Lasell regained their lead, 9-7 courtesy of goals by Gallant and Fernandes with under four minutes left in the quarter.

The Panthers responded with a three goal flurry to close out the period and take a 10-9 lead heading into the final 15 minutes. The teams traded two goals apiece over the first seven minutes of the quarter, leaving Lasell trailing 12-11 with 7:44 on the clock. Annunciata scored a fast-break man-down goal thirty seconds later to make it a 13-11 Panthers lead with 7:09 to play. Suh scored his third of the game with just over four minutes on the clock, but Lasell found their efforts to equalize thwarted by Plymouth's ability to control possession. The Panthers Brandon Lee won 21-27 face-offs, helping the visitors gain extra possessions and capture the victory.

Plymouth will travel to Castleton State for a 1:00 p.m. contest against the Spartans on Saturday March 15^th. Lasell is scheduled to play at UMass-Boston on Friday March 14^th, the status of that matchup is influx due to field conflicts.