Springfield, Mass. - March 8, 2017 - The Springfield College men's lacrosse team benefited from a career-best 21 saves from Jake Reynolds (Scituate, Mass.) as it raced past Stevens, 17-12, on Wednesday afternoon at Stagg Field.
In a game that featured a pair of teams receiving votes in the latest USILA/Nike Division III Coaches Poll, Springfield improved to 2-0, while Stevens dropped to 3-2.
Despite being outshot 60-34 in the game, Springfield was led by a tremendous outing by Reynolds, who tallied 21 stops, including eight in the fourth quarter. Dom Abate (Beverly, Mass.) totaled four goals and an assist, Lucas Habich (Little Silver, N.J.) recorded three goals and two helpers, and Tom Hurley (Goffstown, N.H.) tallied four assists and a goal to pace the offense. Matthew LaCroix (Westfield, Mass.) won 18-of-33 from the "X" while picking up a game-high 13 ground balls. Springfield was a perfect 4-for-4 on man-up chances and held the Ducks to a 2-for-7 performance on their extra-man opportunities.
Max Bailey (Millersville, Md.) led Stevens with three goals, and both Tommy Dawson (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Nicholas Carnovale (Fairfield, N.J.) picked up six ground balls apiece. Carson White (Dowingtown, Pa.) was charged to loss as he made three saves in just over 39 minutes of action.
After a slow start to the first quarter, the teams combined for six goals in the final 6:41. The Pride potted the first two scores of the contest, getting strikes from Duncan Preston (South Portland, Maine) and Abate just 1:21 apart with 5:19 on the clock. Bailey and Brendan Monteleone (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) answered back with unassisted markers for the Ducks, only to have Abate and Habich find the back of the cage for Springfield to give the hosts a 4-2 edge after 15 minutes of play.
The Ducks cut the lead to 4-3 when Connor McKeon finished on the run down the left side, but Ray McCarthy (Somers, Conn.) pumped in a man-up strike at 8:10 and Jack Vail (Franklin, Mass.) finished a Hurley feed in transition at 4:37 as Springfield's lead grew to 6-3. However, the Ducks answered right back and registered goals just seven seconds apart to close within 6-5 with 4:05 on the clock. Springfield later used a Ty Daugstrup (Rocky River, Ohio) goal with 1:54 left in the half to head into the locker room with a 7-5 edge.
After Tim Leahey and Monteleone sandwiched a pair of Stevens goals around an Abate unassisted marker to begin the second half, Springfield blew open the game with five-unanswered strikes over a 3:35 span to earn a 13-7 cushion. Vail provided the spark in the burst with a pair of goals, including a man-up strike to get the surge started.
Stevens got as close as close as four goals twice, the last coming at 15-11 after a John Boutureira goal with 5:45 left in regulation. However, man-up goals from Abate and Daugstrup in the final 3:15 sealed the non-conference victory for Springfield .
Springfield will hit the road this weekend to face Union on Saturday for a 1 pm contest.