WESTON, Mass. – Becker College defeated Regis College, 12-7, on Saturday afternoon in men's lacrosse action in Weston, Mass. The Hawks scored six goals in the second quarter and never looked back as Becker improves to 1-0 on the year, while Regis drops to 0-1.
Becker's Jeff Peterson (Syracuse, N.Y.) got the scoring started for the Hawks as he scooped up a groundball and placed a bounce shot past the Regis netminder to give Becker an early 1-0 lead. The Pride responded just before the end of the first quarter following a Becker penalty, when Matt Vogan (Belmont, Mass.) took a pass in front from Nicky Rodrigo (Miami, Fla.) and scored low as Regis tied the game 1-1 with the man-advantage tally.
The Pride struck first in the second quarter as Regis converted on a similar play, with Nick Dallas (Huntington Beach, Calif.) finding Billy Stewart (West Roxbury, Mass.) in front, and the junior blasted the ball top shelf to put the Pride on top, 2-1. The Hawks responded with six-straight goals over the next seven-plus minutes to take a 7-2 lead. Peterson and David Deschenes (Gales Ferry, Conn.) added two goals apiece during the run, with Cody Leary (Sandwich, Mass.) and Joe Ignagni (Kingston, Mass.) adding the other two scores.
Stewart ended the streak with a goal on a rocket from 15 yards out with 2:21 to play in the second quarter, but the Pride ended the half facing a 7-3 deficit.
Following the break, Deschenes scored a pair of goals only 1:30 apart, both on passes from Peterson, to stake the Hawks to a commanding 9-3 lead. Vogan's second tally of the day off the stick of Andrew O'Reilly (Hollis, N.H.) made it a 9-4 game headed into the final period.
Peterson added two more of his five goals at the 13:13 mark and 10:30 mark of the fourth quarter to put the Hawks on top 11-4. Regis' Peter Leighton (Wilmington, Mass.) entered the scoring column on a nifty dive from the right side where he beat the keeper 1-on-1 to make it an 11-5 game. Deschenes answered only 19 seconds later on the next Hawks possession on another assist from Peterson to push the Hawks lead back to seven at 12-5.
Nicky Rodrigo's first collegiate goal came with 2:33 to play after he deaked the goalkeeper and scored to make it 12-6 and Matt Vogan added the final tally of the day with 1:48 to play for a hat trick as Regis fell to Becker by a final score of 12-7.
In a game marred by nearly 19 minutes in penalties, Becker finished the day 2-for-7 on their extra-man opportunities, while the Pride were 1-for-8. The Hawks outshot the Pride, 48-40, and also held the edge in groundballs, 38-29, and committed only 23 turnovers to the Pride's 27. The teams were evenly matched in faceoffs with Becker going 11-for-21 at the X.
Matt Vogan led the Pride with three goals while Billy Stewart added a pair of tallies to go with one goal apiece from Peter Leighton and Nicky Rodrigo. Rodrigo added two assists for a three point day. Andrew Goldberg (Solebury, Pa.) led the Pride defense with five ground balls, while Stephan Bottex (Norwood, Mass.) added two groundballs and three caused-turnovers. Breandan Crane (Billerica, Mass.) suffered the setback for the Pride, making 13 saves in defeat.
Jeff Petersen scored five goals and added five assists and three groundballs to lead the Hawks. David Deschenes added five goals of his own and an assist, while going 9-for-16 on face-offs and scooping up a game-high 10 groundballs. Leary and Ignani added the other two scores for Becker, while Jonathan Ferreira (Warwick, R.I.) led the Hawks' defense with four caused-turnovers. Michael Munoz (Avon, Conn.) made 18 saves to improve to 1-0 on the year.
The Pride will try and bounce back on Monday night when they travel to Rivier for a 7:30 p.m. matchup. Becker will host Wentworth on Wednesday afternoon in a 4:00 p.m. tilt.