March 26, 2008

Box Score

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. - The Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team built a four-goal lead late in the first half and hung on to won its third straight match, a 10-9 victory over Babson College Wednesday afternoon at Thomas Nevers Field.

Babson (0-7) scored an extra-man goal to pull to within 9-8 with 18 seconds gone in the fourth period but Eastern senior attack Tyler Prescott's (Norwalk) only goal of the match with ten minutes left gave Eastern (3-4) a two-goal cushion. Neither team was able to score again until the Beavers scored with five seconds left to cut the Eastern lead to a single goal for the third time in the match. Eastern freshman faceoff man Eric Vasil (Southington) sealed the victory by winning his tenth faceoff in 15 tries as time ran out.

Eastern scoring leader Matthew Savage (Southington) connected for four of Eastern's goals. Three of his goals came in the first half, but his second-half strike was a key one when he picked up a loose ball and scored midway through the third period to stop a run of two straight Babson goals in a two-minute span and give the Warriors an 8-6 lead.

Junior defensemen Mike Silvestrini (Guilford) and Steve Lane (Groton) combined for 13 of Eastern's game total of 53 ground balls. Silvestrini led the Warriors with seven, Lane adding six and Vasil five.

Junior attack E.J. Peterson (Framingham, MA) contributed to six of Babson's nine goals by scoring five and assisting on one. Peterson scored his team's first five goals, including one on a man-up situation and one when the Beavers were a man down.

Babson freshman goalie Mike Saucier (Nashua, NH) turned in his finest performance of the season in net for the Beavers, recording 17 saves and 10 groundballs in defeat. Junior goalie Kyle Savage (Southington) made 10 saves in the win for ECSU.