REGIS FALLS IN SEASON OPENER TO SUNY

WESTON, Mass. – The Regis college men's lacrosse team dropped an 8-4 decision in their season opener to SUNY Poly Saturday morning. With the victory, the Wildcats earn their first win of the campaign and move to 1-1 overall and the loss drops the Pride to 0-1.

The Wildcats were led by the trio of junior attack Tyler Heldt (Cicero, N.Y.), senior midfielder Nick Levanti (Clayville, N.Y.) and junior middy Connor Elsenbeck (Clinton, N.Y.) who all tallied two goals apiece. Heldt and Elsenbeck each added an assist as well.

Regis had a duo of two goal scorers as Calvin Brault (Colchester, Vt.) and Nicky Rodrigo (Miami, Fla.) accounted for the Pride scores. Senior captain Andrew O'Reilly (Hollis, N.H.) and sophomore attack Danny Rancano (Miami, Fla.) had a helper each.

SUNY outshot the Pride 37-25 during the contest, but senior Jack O'Brien (Milton, Mass.) was 11-of-15 (73.3%) during face-offs.

The Wildcats got on the board first, seven minutes into the duel when Elsenbeck rifled a shot past Pride goaltender D.J. Barrile (Medford, Mass.) for the first goal of the contest. A few minutes later Nembhard caught a pass from Heldt just outside the crease and bounced a shot into the net to put SUNY up 2-0.

Regis would respond with three goals in the second quarter to head into the half up 3-2. After a face-off won by O'Brien, junior midfielder Nick Romig (Dedham, Mass.) scooped up the ground ball and headed down towards the Wildcat defensive zone. A few quick passes later Rancano found Brault who cut to the net and buried a top shelf shot for Regis' first goal of the season. Rodrigo then added two goals a minute apart from each other. After a good clear by the Pride, the senior attack dangled through the Wildcat defensive unit and fired a shot past their goaltender R.J. Ferrucci (Rome, N.Y.), a few possessions later, Rodrigo again drove through the defense and put in a shot to the right of the keeper to give the Pride momentum heading into the break.

The Wildcats made their adjustments and added five goals in the third quarter which put the game out of reach for the Pride. Heldt racked up a gino during a man-up opportunity after a 1:00 slashing penalty by George Nicolopoulos (Windham, N.H.). Heldt added another goal, so did senior midfielder Andrew Wurz (Utica, N.Y.) and Levanti's two goals gave SUNY a 7-3 lead headed into the final quarter.

Elsenbeck and Brault added a goal each in the final stanza, but it didn't close the gap as the Widlcats won 8-4.

R.J. Ferrucci earned his first victory of the year and made 11 saves while D.J. Barrile stopped 16 shots in the setback.

Regis returns to action next Saturday when they travel to Rivier University for a 2:00 p.m. showdown.