Men's Lacrosse Holds Off UMass-Boston, 9-7

NEWTON, Mass. (3/14/14) – The Lasell College men's lacrosse team captured a 9-7 non-conference victory over the visiting Beacons of UMass-Boston on Friday afternoon at Grellier Field. The Lasers improved to 2-3 on the year with win, while the Beacons slipped to 2-2 overall.

Junior Aaron LaPorte (Gorham, Maine) tallied a hat-trick for Lasell in the contest, while Andrew Suh (Colchester, Conn.) and Casey Sullivan (Waterford, Conn.) each finished with a goal and two assists. Dylan Fernandes (Billerica, Mass.), Anthony Saitta (Derry, N.H.), Joe Cunning (Newton, Mass.) and Josh Gallant (Hampstead, N.H.) each netted a goal for Lasell. Junior David Walen (Longmeadow, Mass.) stopped 14 shots in the victory for Lasell, picking up his second win of the season between the pipes.

Donny Delpha (Walpole, Mass.) tallied a game-high four goals and added an assist for UMass-Boston, and Dom Fichera (Scituate, Mass.), Tommy Petitti (Quincy, Mass.) and John Powers (Marshfield, Mass.) each notched a goal for the Beacons as well. Craig Freehill (Norwell, Mass.) made 12 saves in the cage for UMB in a losing effort.

The Lasers jumped out to an early lead as Suh opened the scoring on a feed from Casey Sullivan with 8:04 left in the first quarter, followed by an unassisted tally by LaPorte and a goal by Gallant from Jason Donovan (Weymouth, Mass.) that gave Lasell a 3-0 lead with 4:43 left in the period. Lasell went in front 4-0 in the second period when Pat Egan (Glen Rock, N.J.) found Sullivan with 10:46 to play in the half and Lasell looked to be on the verge of pulling away.

UMass-Boston responded almost immediately as a Delpha rip from 10 yards out snapped the net for the Beacons less than a minute later, and Delpha's second unassisted goal of the game with 6:09 to play in the half cut the Beacons deficit to 4-2. Powers converted on a man-up opportunity for UMB with 5:28 remaining as the Lasell lead was cut to 4-3 at intermission.

Delpha opened the third quarter with an unassisted goal just two minutes into the half for UMB tying the score and the visitors went ahead 5-4 when Delpha found Petitti at the 11:04 mark in the quarter. An unassisted goal from Lasell's Fernandes with 9:38 to play in the period tied the score at 5-5, setting the stage for a tight fourth quarter finish. LaPorte put Lasell on top 6-5 with 10:45 on the clock in the fourth quarter, and when Sullivan connected with Saitta the freshmen finished for his first career goal at the 9:15 mark to make it 7-5.

Suh found LaPorte and Cunning for goals a minute and a half apart as Lasell stretched their advantage to 9-5 with 4:46 to play in the game. The Beacons used goals from Fichera and Delpha to get within two at 9-78 with 1:11 left in the contest, but Lasell was able to kill the remaing time and take home the victory.

UMass-Boston will host Johnson State College tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. before heading to Florida for a pair of games, while Lasell will be off until Saturday March 22^nd when they resume their Great Northeast Athletic Conference schedule with a 1:00 p.m. matchup against St. Joseph's College if Maine.