LASELL MOVES ON TO GNAC SEMI FINALS AFTER 3-1 WIN OVER ALBERTUS MAGNUS

Newton, Mass. -  The Lasell College Lasers will move on to the semi-finals of the GNAC Championship Tournament after a 3-1 win over Albertus Magnus College.  Albertus Magnus finishes their season at 3-5-2 in the conference and 8-8-2 overall.

From the beginning of the game, the Lasers had a dominant edge on the field, as seen by a lopsided 32-13 shot advantage by Lasell.  Though the Lasers had quite a few chances to score in the first twenty minutes, including three extremely close calls by junior midfielder Robert Gonzalez (Palmdale, CA), the Falcons stopped each early prospect.

It was not until the 22nd minute, that Lasell's Tholemson Francois (Stoughton, MA) gave the Lasers a 1-0 lead.  Francois used his speed to dribble down the right field and sent a soaring shot past the Falcon's goalkeeper Gerald O'Connor (Hamden, CT), for his twelfth season goal.   The lead would hold for the remainder for the first period.

Paul Meucci (Vernon, CT), Sean Fisher (Griswold, CT) and Rocco Mazzaferro (Niskayuna, NY) played significantly well on defense for the Lasers, hindering many of the Falcon's attempts, and holding Albertus to only 6 total first half shots.  Jamal Howard (West Haven, CT) produced the Falcons only shot on goal in the first half.  

After the intermission, Howard attacked Lasell's net successfully. At 59:33, rookie midfielder Kyle Kelly (Stratford, CT) fed Howard who scored for Albertus on a breakaway, to tie the game at 1-1.

With less than 18 minutes to play in regulation, Meucci created the opening for the game winning goal by sending Zach Gagne (Somerset, MA) a leading pass down the middle of the field.  Gagne beat the Falcon's defense and the keeper to pull the Lasers ahead once again.

The Lasers lead was padded once more by Francois with 1:39 left to play, assisted by Matt Tieri (Billerica, MA).

O'Connor gave a noteworthy performance for the Falcons, coming up with some brilliant saves under constant pressure from Lasell.  O'Connor finished the game with 10 total stops, and Lasell's keeper, Julian Dutton (Madison, CT) picked up 3 saves.

The Lasers, now 12-6-0 overall and 9-1-0 in the conference, will face St. Joseph's College (ME) in the GNAC Tournament semi-finals on Tuesday, November 4th.  The Lasers will host the Monks at 1:30 p.m. on Taylor Field.