WESTON, Mass. – Salem State University scored four goals in the third quarter to pull away for a 13-6 victory over Regis College in a non-conference men's lacrosse game on Wednesday night in Weston, Mass. The Vikings improve to 6-2 overall and have won six-straight games, while the Pride had their five game winning-streak snapped and fall to 7-2.
Zach Brown (Peabody, Mass.) scored five goals, while Ben Melaugh (Billerica, Mass.) scored three goals and handed out four assists to lead Salem State. Jacob Scordato (Milford, Mass.) and Alex Pearsons (Burlington, Mass.) netted two goals apiece and Sean Quinlan (Lowell, Mass.) rounded out the scoring for the Vikings.
Regis was led by two goals and three assists from Peter Leighton (Wilmington, Mass.). Calvin Brault (Colchester, Vt.) added a pair of his own, while Nicky Rodrigo (Miami, Fla.) and Alex Ferran (Miami, Fla.) each scored one goal.
Sophomore keeper D.J. Barrile (Medford, Mass.) stopped 21 shots for the Pride in the setback. Salem State's Dylan Svenson (Billerica, Mass.) grabbed his sixth win of the year while making 11 saves on the night.
Scordato struck first for the Vikings as he took a pass from Melaugh up top and cranked a shot past the Regis keeper to put Salem State on top 1-0. Zach Brown followed with an unassisted tally nearly 30 seconds later to go up 2-0, but Ferran answered for the Pride with a laser of his own to make it a 2-1 game. Melaugh would score the final two goals of the period to give the visitors a 4-1 lead.
Salem State stretched their lead to 5-1 on another Scordato tally to open the second quarter. Regis answered 40 seconds later when Peter Leighton hit Calvin Brault with a skip pass for an open shot that made it 5-2. Brault and Leighton hooked up again at the 6:26 mark as Brault beat Svenson with a bounce shot, and Nicky Rodrigo entered the scoring column with 2:39 to play as Regis entered the break only trailing 5-4.
The Vikings scored all four goals in the third quarter to take a commanding 9-4 lead headed into the final frame. Zach Brown netted three of the four scores, while Melaugh completed the hat trick with a goal of his own.
Leighton opened the scoring for the Pride to start the fourth quarter and make it a 9-5 game, but both offenses stalled over the next 11 minutes of action until Sean Quinlan found the back of the net to make it 10-5 advantage for Salem State with 3:13 to play. Leighton scored 30 seconds later, but the Vikings scored three-straight goals to end the game on Brown's fifth of the day and two scores from Pearsons to take home the 13-6 win.
Salem State outshot the Pride at a 56-30 clip and held a 42-28 advantage in groundballs. The Pride won 12-of-23 face-offs, but committed 29 turnovers to just 18 for the Vikings. Regis could not capitalize on the man-advantage, only going 1-for-9 with the extra attacker.
Jack O'Brien (Milton, Mass.) won 10-of-18 face-offs and grabbed a team-high six groundballs. Andrew O'Reilly (Hollis, N.H.) and D.J. Barrile added four groundballs apiece, with Nicky Rodrigo and Nick Romig (Dedham, Mass.) scooping up two groundballs each.
Nate Staples (Salem, Mass.) and Ian Abrahamson (Billerica, Mass.) led the Vikings defense with six groundballs apiece, with Abrahamson causing a game-high seven turnovers. Ryan Clark (Rowley, Mass.) added five groundballs, while Alex Pearsons and William Angell (Littleton, Mass.) grabbing four apiece.
Regis returns to action next Wednesday when they host Daniel Webster College in the Pride's New England Collegiate Conference opener at 5:00 p.m. Salem State will host the University of Southern Maine on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m.