MILTON, Mass. – Hoping for its first winning season in five years, the Curry College men's lacrosse team took a step in the right direction Thursday afternoon at Walter M. Katz Field, scoring ten unanswered goals in roughly 18 minutes in a 16-7 non-conference win over Eastern Connecticut State University.
 
In winning its first match after two opening losses, Curry had only one more shot and committed five more turnovers than Eastern, but won 18 of 25 faceoffs and scored five extra-man goals – striking for back-to-back man-up goals early in the second quarter and again in the second half en route to the lopsided victory.
 
After Eastern junior Zacharie Appolon (Stamford) tied the game in the opening minutes with his first goal of the season, the Colonels ran off ten straight goals. They closed out the first quarter with two in a row, outscored Eastern (1-1) 8-1 in the second quarter and scored the first goal of the third quarter to make the score 12-2.
 
The teams were meeting for the first time in 26 years after the Warriors had won the first two meetings in the early years of the program by a combined score of 42-6.
 
Curry junior Zac Robinson won eight of 11 faceoffs and freshman Nick Flanigan nine of 14 for Curry. Juniors Pat Modoono and Stephen Stackhouse each had four goals for Curry, with Modoono adding two assists and sophomore Brody Dalzell two goals and three assists.
 
Sophomore Brycen Kennedy (Southington) was Eastern's only multiple-scorer, with three goals, with senior Garett Lapham (Trumbull) credited with two assists.
 
First-year goalie Ryan Giles (Levittown, NY) saw his first action in net for Eastern, make two saves and allowing two goals over the final five minutes.
 
Eastern plays its third of six straight season-opening road matches Wednesday against the University of Saint Joseph at 3:30 p.m. at the USJ Athletic Complex. A fourth-year program, USJ was 2-0 entering a non-conference match Friday at Nichols College.
 
Eastern has defeated Saint Joseph in both games of the two-game series which began in 2021. In an 8-2 win at USM in 2021, Eastern held the Blue Jays scoreless in the second half to break from a 3-2 halftime lead for an 8-2 victory. In a game played in a snowstorm at Rick McCarthy Field in Eastern's home-opener, there were 13 ties before the Warriors survived on Shane Haggerty's winning goal with 21.1 seconds left.
 
Heading into Friday's game, Saint Joseph was 16-19 as an intercollegiate program, winning seven and losing ten a year ago.