WESTON, Mass. – Nicky Rodrigo (Miami, Fla.) scored five goals and added three assists to lead 10 players with at least one point as Regis College defeated Wheelock College, 20-2, in men's lacrosse action in Weston, Mass. on Monday afternoon. The Pride moves to 3-1 with the win, while Wheelock drops to 0-1.
The freshman duo of Calvin Brault (Colchester, Vt.) and Grant Nordlund (Miami, Fla.) started the scoring for the Pride as each scored off nice paces from Andrew O'Reilly (Hollis, N.H.) and Peter Leighton (Wilmington, Mass.). Rodrigo scored his first goal of the game as he cut through the Wheelock defense and fired a bounce shot that got through the keeper.
The Pride would tack on five more goals in the period – including three from Rodrigo – to take an 8-0 lead into the second quarter. O'Reilly and Brault added the other tallies for the Pride.
Regis continued to pull away as they took a 15-0 lead with 5:03 remaining on an A.J. Karofsky (Barrington, R.I.) goal. Wheelock got on the board nearly 30 seconds later as Josh Simmons (Braintree, Mass.) took a pass from behind from Ruben Morales (Chelsea, Mass.) and squeezed the ball inside the near post for the Wildcats' first goal of the season.
The Pride added two more goals before the half, and three more in the third to take a 20-1 lead into the final period. The fourth quarter was all Wheelock as they outshot the Pride 11-1 in the stanza and scored the lone goal on another Simmons tally off a feed from Austin Rindfuss (Sandwich, Mass.) to give the game its final score of 20-2.
Regis outshot the Wildcats at a 38-30 clip and grabbed 45 groundballs compared to just 26 for Wheelock. Both teams struggled with turnovers as Wheelock committed 29 missteps and the Pride had 23 of their own. Regis also went 11-for-16 on clear attempts. The Pride won 15-of-25 face-offs led by Brandon Mehler's (Bay Shore, N.Y.) 12-of-18 showing and game-high nine groundballs.
In addition to Rodrigo's eight point day, Grant Nordlund added two goals and two assists, while Andrew O'Reilly had two goals and three assists. Jack Wise (Menlo Park, Calif.) scored his first two career goals, with Karofsky adding his first two career scores, and Geno Mayans (Miami, Fla.) adding one goal.
Tyler Estes (Geneva, Ill.) picked up his first win of the year, making eight saves while playing the first half. Josh Giarratano (Warwick, R.I.) wrapped up the final 30 minutes, adding five saves of his own.
Collin Davis (Alexandria, Va.) suffered the setback for the Wildcats, making nine saves on the day. Austin Rindfuss had an assist and six groundballs, while Oscar Belmont (Southlake, Texas) had five groundballs and a pair of caused turnovers.
Regis returns to action on Wednesday night when they travel to Rivier University for a 5:00 p.m. game. Wheelock will travel to Anna Maria College on Thursday night for a 5:00 p.m. contest.