WESTON, Mass. - Senior attack AJ Karofsky (Barrington, R.I.) tallied four goals and an assist on Saturday afternoon, but it wasn't enough as the Regis (Mass.) men's lacrosse team suffered a 17-7 defeat to Western Connecticut State University in non-conference action at Regis Stadium.
With the loss, the Pride falls to 1-2 on the young season, while the Colonials improve their overall mark to 2-3.
The first quarter was played extremely tight, as goals from Western Connecticut State's Eric Caldwell (East Moriches, N.Y.) and Karofsky had the game level at 1-1 with the clock running down in the quarter, but the Colonials grabbed momentum with a pair of goals in the period's final minute. Freshman Riley Graham (Oceanside, N.Y.) put the Colonials ahead with 1:00 showing on the clock, before Caldwell netted his second goal of the quarter, giving the visitors a 3-1 lead after one.
Western Connecticut continued rolling with the momentum to start the second quarter, outscoring the Pride 6-1 in the period to take a commanding 9-2 lead into the half. Caldwell netted two more goals in the quarter, while Graham pitched in a goal and an assist in the period to help their team to the big advantage.
Freshman Michael Daras (Danvers, Mass.) and sophomore Brian Wagner (Melrose, Mass.) both recorded tallies in the third quarter for the Pride, but the high-powered Western Connecticut offense continued to keep the Pride guessing. Four different Colonials scored in the quarter, and the visitors went to the fourth quarter with an advantage of 13-4.
Regis senior Collin Spillane (Franklin, Mass.) opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with his team-leading 11th goal of the season, but any comeback bid the Pride had in mind was immediately squashed by the Colonials. Sophomore Matthew Paternostro (Stratford, Conn.) netted his first goal of the season just 13 seconds after Spillane's tally, the first of three consecutive Western Connecticut goals to give the guests a 16-5 lead with just inside nine minutes to play. Karofsky netted two of his four goals in the closing minutes of the game to get the score to its final of 17-7.
Freshman goalkeeper Perry Cassidy (East Setauket, N.Y.) got the win for the Colonials on the afternoon, recording seven saves in 53 minutes in goal. The loss was credited to Nick Penta (Andover, Mass.) for the Pride, who made four saves. JJ LaRose (Litchfield, N.H.) came on in relief of Penta in the second half, and recorded four saves of his own in 24 minutes.
Next up for the Pride, they'll take to the field on Monday for the makeup of Wednesday's postponed game against Mitchell College. Western Connecticut next plays on Wednesday, wrapping up a three-game road trip against Merchant Marine.
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