WESTON, Mass. – Sophomore attack Nicky Rodrigo (Miami, Fla.) scored five goals and dished out three assists for an eight point day to lead the Regis College men's lacrosse team to a 13-7 victory over the University of Maine-Farmington on Saturday afternoon. The Pride have won four-straight games to move to 5-2 overall, while Maine Farmington falls to 0-1.
Rodrigo continued his torrid play of late as he now has five-straight multi-point games dating back to March 10 against Rivier. The sophomore has scored 20 goals and handed out eight assists during the stretch and the Pride are 4-1 in those games.
Regis jumped out to an early 2-0 lead following tallies by Andrew O'Reilly (Hollis, N.H.) and Rodrigo. Brandon Melville (Farmington, Maine) cut the deficit in half as he scooped up a Pride turnover in front of the net and potted the goal to make it a 2-1 game. Rodrigo put the Pride back on top by two nearly two minutes later on a nice feed from behind the net off the stick of Peter Fucci (Amherst, N.H.), but the Beavers would score three-straight goals to end the opening quarter to take a 4-3 lead at the end of one. Sean Berce (Auburn, Maine), Cameron McAllister (Hampden, Maine), and T.C. Peters (Scarborough, Maine) recorded the goals for UMF.
Mike Foley (Byfield, Mass.) opened the scoring in the second quarter for Maine-Farmington as he fired a shot top shelf past the Regis netminder. Peter Fucci made it a one goal game at the 8:28 mark of the quarter with a bounce shot that beat the keeper and left it a 5-4 game. The Beavers took a 6-4 lead when goalie Ben Altmaier (Wilton, Maine) made a save and then went the length of the field on the ensuing clear attempt, finding Jake Linkletter (Athens, Maine) for a quick shot that found the back of the net, forcing a Pride timeout.
Out of the break, Fucci netted his second tally of the game as he came around the net and squeezed the ball between Altmaier's legs to make it a 6-5 game. Only 39 seconds later, Fucci found Rodrigo in front for a rocket goal that knotted the score at 6-6 and Matt Vogan (Billerica, Mass.) put the Pride on top 7-6 headed into the half, scoring on a pass from Nick Dallas (Huntington Beach, Calif.).
The third quarter was all Regis as Vogan and Chris Campbell (South Hadley, Mass.) each scored on assists by Rodrigo. The sophomore Rodrigo added his fourth goal of the game with 7:43 to play in the third quarter when he weaved his way through the Beaver defense and beat the keeper top shelf to give the Pride a 10-6 lead.
Rodrigo tallied his fifth goal of the game only 53 seconds into the fourth quarter on a feed from Chris Campbell. Nick Dallas entered the scoring column nearly three minutes later, scoring on the man disadvantage, to make it a 12-6 game. UMF's Michael Keim (Veazie, Maine) ended the 8-0 run by the Pride to cut the deficit to 12-7, but Vogan scored his third of the game with under a minute to play on a feed from Rodrigo that led to the final score of 13-7 in favor of the Pride.
The Pride outshot Maine-Farmington at a 52-43 clip and held a 54-31 advantage in groundballs. Regis went 13-for-16 on clear attempts compared to a 17-for-29 showing for the Beavers. The Pride did lose the turnover battle, handing it over 30 times in the game, with the Beavers making 26 missteps of their own.
Regis was dominant at the face-off circle, winning 20-of-24 face-offs including Jack O'Brien (Milton, Mass.) going 18-of-21. O'Brien led the Pride with 15 groundballs on the day as well.
Rookie D.J. Barrile (Medford, Mass.) played the final 30 minutes of action, making 11 saves and allowing only one goal en route to his first win of his career. Maine Farmington's Altmaier posted a game-high 15 saves to go with a pair of groundballs.
Regis returns to action on Tuesday night when the Pride travels to Emerson College for a 6:00 p.m. matchup. Maine-Farmington also hits the road on Tuesday, travelling to New England College for a North Atlantic Conference matchup with the Pilgrims at 4:00 p.m.