WESTON, Mass. – After a close first half, Regis College pulled away after halftime to defeat Thomas College, 10-3, Wednesday afternoon in a non-conference men's collegiate lacrosse match at Regis Stadium.
Zach Leighton (Wilmington, Mass.) notched his first hat trick of the season with three goals, while Brian Wagner (Melrose, Mass.) finished with two goals and four assists. Brendon Donahue (Lynn, Mass.) won 12-of-16 faceoffs, with George Nicolopoulos (Windham, N.H.) picking up 10 ground balls as he collected many of the faceoff wins.
Wagner struck quickly for the Pride, scoring 38 seconds into the match. On an extra-man opportunity five minutes later, he found Michael Tremblay (Arlington, Mass.) for a goal to extend the Regis lead to 2-0.
Thomas (1-6) broke through with 1:48 remaining in the first quarter as Johnathan Wilcox found Daniel MacWhinnie for a Terrier goal. However, the Pride would reestablish a two-goal advantage just 34 seconds later when Wagner assisted on Leighton's first goal of the match.
The Wagner-Leighton combination would strike again just over three minutes into the second quarter, but that would be the only Regis goal in the period, as Terrier goalies Damon Westhaver and William Oliver combined to make five saves in the quarter. Meanwhile, MacWhinnie picked up his second goal of the match midway through the period on an extra-man opportunity to close the Thomas deficit to 4-2.
Just 46 seconds into the third quarter, Wagner again found Leighton, who completed his hat trick to extend the Pride lead back to three. Regis would score three more goals in the quarter thanks to unassisted tallies by Rocco Geary (Salem, Mass.), seeing his first action of the season, Michael Daras (Danvers, Mass.), and Wagner.
The Pride would pick up two more goals in the fourth quarter as Donahue and Jesse Bedon (Wallingford, Conn.) scored unassisted goals. Meanwhile, Tommy Murphy (Concord, Mass.) took over in net for JJ LaRose (Litchfield, N.H.), who finished with five saves, and made three saves over the final 16 minutes of the contest.
MacWhinnie scored Thomas' final goal late in the fourth quarter to complete his hat trick. Duncan McDougal led the Terriers with six ground balls, while Wilcox finished with four ground balls and a team-high three caused turnovers.
The Pride outshot the Terriers, 54-19, including a 22-11 advantage in shots on goal. Westhaver finished with nine saves, and Oliver added two saves for Thomas. Regis ended up 20-for-25 on clearing attempts and forced 14 of Thomas' 31 turnovers.
Regis (3-4) returns to conference action next Tuesday, April 9, facing Anna Maria in Paxton, Mass., starting at 5 p.m. The Pride next play at home Saturday, April 13, against Norwich starting at 3:30 p.m. on a day that includes honoring the seniors, welcoming alumni back, and raising awareness for the One Love Foundation.