No. 19 Men's Lacrosse Knocks off No. 11 UMass
The No. 19 ¶¶Òô»ÆƬapp men's lacrosse team won their third-straight game by topping No. 11 University of Massachusetts, 11-5, Tuesday at Alumni Field.
Junior Colin McLinden tallied three goals, an assist, and three ground balls while senior Eric Warden had three goals. Juniors Tristan Sperry and Drew Federico chipped in with two goals apiece while rookie posted a goal and an assist.
Fairfield (5-2) came out strong in the first quarter, as Sperry netted goals at 12:35 and 12:00 for the early 2-0 lead. The Stags held UMass (6-2) scoreless in the first period of play.
The Stags built up a 4-0 lead in the second quarter on strikes by Fleming at 13:03 and Federico at 8:06. The Minutemen did not score until the 4:35 mark in the period as Andrew Sokol found Nick Mariano. McLinden answered a minute later but UMass scored with 7.6 seconds left in the half to pull within 5-2 at the break.
Warden gave the Stags a 6-2 lead just 2:12 into the third quarter. UMass answered at 11:18 with a goal by Mariano but Warden countered with his second goal of the game at 9:44. The Minutemen cut it to three goals, 7-4, at 5:20 on a man-up tally but Federico returned the lead to four less than a minute later. In the fourth quarter, Connor Mooney pulled UMass within 8-5 on a man-up goal at 9:45. Warden put home a Fleming pass at 7:26 to change momentum while McLinden scored twice in the final 4:35 to secure the win.
Eight of the 13 UMass turnovers on the day were caused by Fairfield. Senior was part of a strong defensive effort for the Stags, finishing with two caused turnovers and a ground ball. Junior also had two caused turnovers and four ground balls.
Senior made 10 saves in goal for the Stags while UMass' Zach Oliveri made five saves. Murphy added a caused turnover and two ground balls.
The Minutemen's Joe Calvello won 14 of the 19 face-offs he took, scooping up nine ground balls while had five face-off wins.
Fairfield returns to action on March 22 when it travels to Holy Cross.
