Box Score MANSFIELD, Conn. – Junior midfielder Jesse Schulze (Croton-on-Hudson, NY) won 12 of 15 faceoffs and Eastern Connecticut State University limited the University of Massachusetts Boston well under its season average for shots by dominating time of possession in an 8-4 Little East Conference men's lacrosse victory Tuesday afternoon at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex.
In handing UMass Boston (11-5, 3-3 LEC) its first conference road loss, Eastern (9-5, 5-1 LEC) remains one game behind Little East leader Keene State College, which routed Salem State University Tuesday, 24-12 to remain undefeated in six LEC regular-season games.
An Eastern win in its final regular-season game at Keene State Friday at 7 p.m. would give the Warriors a share of their ninth LEC regular-season title and the No. 1 seed and first-round bye in the LEC tournament, which gets underway Tuesday. An Eastern loss and wins by Plymouth State University in its final two LEC contests will drop the Warriors to third place in the final standings and will force Eastern into a first-round home contest Tuesday.
UMass, averaging 40 shots a game in its first 15 contests, was held to 26 against Eastern as the Warriors dictated the pace throughout, shutting out the Beacons in two of four quarters. Eastern commited a season-low 11 turnovers, forced 17 miscues, and piled up 56 shots.
Eastern was whistled for four of the five penalties in the match, but allowed only one extra-man goal and capitalized on its one man-up opportunity with 23 seconds left that sewed up the win – an empty-netter by senior midfielder Dan Vasquez (Newington).
The Warriors scored the first two goals and never trailed, taking control by scoring three straight in a 13 minute stretch spanning the first and seven halves. Senior midfielder Liam Murphy (Dover, NH) potted a pair around Schulze's first goal of the season, the latter goal setting the tempo in the second half by coming less than a minute into the third quarter and staking the hosts to a decisive 5-2 lead.
After UMB scored consecutive goals for the second time in the match to cut the gap to one (5-4) for the second and final time, Eastern junior attack Shawn Tierney (Norwell, MA) applied a dagger with his only goal of the match on an assist from sophomore midfielder Harrison Urda (Milford, NH) with nine minutes left. Eastern shut out the Beacons after senior attack Calvin Lee's 46th goal of the season (third of the match) had found the back of the net with ten minutes left that had pulled his team to within 5-4.
Schulze and UMB senior midfielder Phil Truong entered the match with identical faceoff winning percentages (.535), but Schulze won the battle decisively at the faceoff X. Schulze won 12 of 15 against two Boston faceoff opponents, including all seven in the first half. Schulze has been successful on 75.0 percent (36-of-48) of his faceoffs over the last three games.
Eastern senior defenseman Giuseppe Parisi (Danbury) spent most of the afternoon shadowing Lee, a first-year transfer from Colby College. With Parisi causing six turnovers and scooping up five ground balls, Lee managed only one goal over the final 37 minutes.
In its final regular-season home match, Eastern finished 3-0 on its own field in LEC play, while UMass dropped its first conference road game after three wins.
Eastern senior goalie Blake Smaldone (Hamilton, MA) and UMB senior Craig Frehill entered play ranked 1-2 in the LEC in both goals-against average and save percentage, Smaldone made nine of his 11 saves in the second half, allowing only two goals over the final 30 minutes. Frehill kept the Beacons close by stopping 18 shots.
The win was Eastern's 23rd in the series with UMass without a loss.
