WORCESTER, Mass. – Facing a winless team with the opportunity to return to the .500 level, the Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team could not capitalize, falling behind by six goals 20 minutes into play and never recovering in a 13-9 non-conference loss to Clark University Wednesday evening at Granger Field.
 
Eastern held Clark scoring leader Ben Hollerbach to just one goal and one assist, but sophomore Matt Wells picked up the offensive slack with five goals and two assists for Clark (1-6),
which defeated  Eastern (3-5) for the third straight time in the series after the Warriors had posted a 29-5 victory in the first match between the clubs when both were members of the Pilgrim League in 1997.
 
The Cougars had been outscored by nearly ten goals a game in their six losses and had managed a faceoff percentage of just 39 percent. Against Eastern, Clark won 17 of 26 (65.4 percent), and graduate goalie Ryan Mickelson turned away  15 shots before junior Casey McCullough finished it up by making two saves over the final five minutes.
 
Trailing 7-1, Eastern made a bid  to get back into the game by scoring five of the next seven goals – three by junior Zacharie Appolon (Stamford) – and were within three four minutes into the third quarter before Clark potted three in a span of four minutes to regain control.
 
Appolon finished with four goals for Eastern and senior Garrett Lapham (Trumbull) added two as the Warriors' only multiple-goal scorers. Senior goalie Nick Collazo (Park Ridge, NJ) made six saves.
 
Senior defenseman Ryan Stocks (Longmeadow, MA) led Eastern with six ground balls and three caused turnovers, sophomore attackman Brycen Kennedy (Southington) adding four ground balls.
 
A winner in its Little East Conference opener this past Saturday, Eastern returns to conference play this Saturday at Keene State College at 3 p.m.