Sports

Husson Defeats Mitchell College In Lacrosse

Men's team defeated in Saturday game

The Husson University men's lacrosse team defeated Mitchell College on Saturday, improving their record to 5-5 while the Mariners fell to 2-6. The following information was provided by John Doyle, sports information director at Husson University:

The Eagles were led by senior attackman Ben Landry (Lewiston, ME) who scored a game-high 5 goals for the Eagles. Fellow senior Wayne Stubbs (Keene, NH) turned in a hat-trick performance from his crease attack position, and midfielder Chris Pelletier (Rome, ME) pitched in four points on two goals and as many assists. Defensively, Matt Catalano (North Attleboro, MA) led the charge with four caused turnovers to go with a pair of ground balls, while short-stick defensive midfielder Vincent Visconti (North Andover, MA) led all players with seven ground balls. Sophomore Eric Lund (Mansfield, MA) earned the victory, making 10 saves in front of the cage for the Eagles. 

Husson out-shot their opponents by a narrow margin taking 37 to their opponent's 31, but had a much more substantial margin in the ground ball category, winning 46 compared to 24 by the Mariners. The Eagles held the advantage at the faceoff dot, going 13 of 20, thanks largely to the effort of Dillon Shaw (Augusta, ME) who was 12-18, and currently sits at #44 in the NCAA Division III in faceoff win percentage. Husson was just 1-7 with the extra man, but held their opponents in check, allowing just two goals on eight chanced while down a player. The Eagles were at 90% clearing the ball, succeeding on 19-21 clear attempts, while Mitchell went 16-21 on clears for 76%. 

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For Mitchell, first year midfielder Nicholas Gresio (Commack, NY) led the team with three goals on just four shots on the day, while fellow rookie Jordan Cook (Groton, CT) chipped in with a pair of goals of his own. Defensively, sophomore long-stick midfielder Chris Joy (East Lyme, CT) had a solid day, tying for the team lead with three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Goalie Peter Eshenfelder (Quaker Hill, CT) was outstanding in the crease despite being tagged with the loss, making 17 saves in the game.

Mitchell jumped out to an early lead just 2:06 into the first quarter as Cook potted an unassisted tally for the first goal of the game. The Mariners held their only lead of the game for just over four minutes before Pelletier found Landry to even the score mid-way through the quarter. Husson would finish the quarter on a three-goal run as Landry added another around the five minute mark, this time from Nick Brown (Fort Worth, TX), and Stubbs would finish the first quarter scoring with 3:51 remaining in the quarter, adding an unassisted tally, and after one, the Eagles were up 3-1.

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The Eagles began the second period on an extra man opportunity, and it took just 13 seconds in the quarter for Landry to capitalize, and Husson led 4-1. The Eagles committed two infractions after the goal, giving Mitchell a two-man advantage, and Gresio came up with the unassisted score to close the gap to two. That sparked the Mariner offense, who went on a little run of their own in the second. Gresio scored again with 5:28 remaining in the second, again unassisted, and with just under 30 seconds to play in the half, Cook scored on an assist from Adam Grillo (Waterford, CT) below the cage, and that would tie the score at the intermission. 

Husson was able to break the tie nearly four minutes into the third quarter when Landry netted his fourth of the game on an unassisted score to make it 5-4. Shortly after the ensuing faceoff, the Eagles drew a penalty, and that opened the door for Gresio to tie it with the extra man on an assist by Aaron Feinberg (Waterford, CT) at 10:37 in the third. With the score even at 5, Husson dug deep and came up with a 6-1 run to pull away at the end. Landry broke the deadlock with 7:15 to play in the quarter off an assist by Pelletier, and then later in the quarter, the midfielder transitioned from facilitator to goal-scorer, potting two in a row off assists by N. Brown (his second) and Mitch Heaps (Felton, PA). After Pelletier's second goal, Shaw won the faceoff cleanly to himself, and ran straight at the net, dishing it to Heaps at the last second. The junior attackman finished the play, and Husson took a 9-5 lead into the fourth and final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Eagles finished things off completing their run on a pair of unassisted scores from Stubbs, the first coming at 11:35, and the second with 3:34 to play in the game. The Mariners never gave in, and were rewarded for their efforts, scoring with just 11 seconds left to play as Ben Carr (Stratford, NJ) found Shane Sullivan (Quaker Hill, CT) who ripped a corner from outside that found the back of the net. In the end, Husson walked away with an 11-6 victory.

The Eagles are in action again on Friday when they return to Boucher Field to host the Hornets of Lyndon State in Husson's second North Atlantic Conference (NAC) contest beginning at 7:00 pm. Mitchell will also host Lyndon State in their next match-up, beginning at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, April 4th in New London, CT.


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