Box Score WENHAM, Mass.— By all accounts, defense figures to be the strong suit of the Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team in 2016. Saturday's season-opener at Gordon College did nothing to dispel that belief.
Having never allowed Gordon College (0-2) more than ten goals in any of the previous five matches in this series, Eastern broke the fifth and final tie with goals from sophomore Matthew Rougeot (Cheshire) and senior Michael Dellanno (Wakefield, MA) and went on to a 12-10 victory in the season-opener under second-year head coach Brian Tilley.
Senior attacker Ryan Utz of Gordon scored five times, but it was not enough after Eastern outscored the Scots 5-1 at one point in the second half to move out to a 10-6 lead with 12 minutes left. Eastern never trailed by more than a goal and did not allow the hosts to string together more than two goals in succession until the final two minutes, when Gordon struck three times in an effort to climb back from a five-goal deficit.
The game was defense-oriented from the very start as Eastern senior goalie Blake Smaldone (Hamilton, MA) and Cody Greenwald of Gordon each showed some tough saves over the course of 60 minutes. Eastern had five of the first six shots of the game in five minutes of gameplay, but it was Gordon which would strike first in the sixth minute.
The Warriors evened the score just two minutes later on an unassisted strike from Dellanno with 7:45 to go in the first quarter. Eastern made it 2-1 in the 11th minute with another unassisted score, this one from junior Kent Tiden (Old Saybrook).
Only a minute later, it was Gordon which would battle back to knot the game when Roger Evans converted on a man-up situation. The game went to the second period tied at two.
Carrying over a power play from the first quarter, senior Liam Murphy (Dover, NH) capitalized just ten seconds into the second quarter to take a 3-2 advantage. Not to be outdone, Utz converted another man-up goal to even the score at three.
Gordon took its second lead of the game in the 21st minute with Utz coming through once again. Evans found Utz curling in front of the net for the easy tap in and a 4-3 lead.
The Warriors scored twice in a minute toward the end of the half to take a 5-4 lead heading into the break. Five different Eastern players scored a goal in the opening half.
Evans scored his second goal of the game and fifth of the season coming out of intermission, but the Warriors locked things down for most of the third period thereafter. Rougeot and Dellano both cashed in for their second scores of the game to put the Warriors up by two.
Martin came back to bring Gordon within a 7-6 deficit, but the Scots failed to score a goal in the final 10 minutes of the third. Eastern held on to an 8-6 advantage entering the final period.
The Warriors opened up a comfortable lead in the fourth quarter, scoring four goals to only one Gordon strike as the game approached the final three minutes. Gordon's Austin Early snatched his first career goal in the 57th minute of regulation to make it a 12-8 game.
Utz scored twice in the final two minutes to make things interesting, but Smaldone stopped several point-blank chances to preserve the Warrior lead.
Eastern meets SUNY Oneonta Saturday at Hofstra University at 7 p.m.
Eastern Highlights
· Dellano, Tiden, Rougeot, Murphy and senior Tim Reilly (Hanover, MA) each had two goals for the Warriors.
· Dellano had a game-high four points for ECSU by adding two assists.
· Smaldone was impressive in net all day, making 16 saves and adding six groundballs. He also had an incredible assist on a long pass up the middle of the field to start a fast break. The senior had a team-high two caused turnovers
Gordon Highlights
· Utz had a big day with five goals and an assist on 14 shot attempts
· Evans also contributed two goals to bring his season total to five
· Pete Kovacevic won 15-of-24 face offs and had a game-high 10 groundballs due to those wins
· Greenwald finished with ten saves on the day
Quick Stats
· Eastern had a 39-24 shot advantage entering the final quarter, but Gordon finished with a 46-44 lead in attempts
· The Scots nearly doubled their shots on goal in the fourth quarter alone, forcing Smaldone into some tough saves
· Smaldone made seven of his 16 saves in the final period
· Eastern was more efficient in clears, going 22-of-24
Gordon College Sports Information contributed to this game account
