Box Score
BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team staged a monumental rally that turned a seven-goal second-quarter deficit into a two-goal lead early in the third  before Massachusetts Maritime Academy regrouped to score 11 unanswered goals in the second half and pulled away for a 20-12 Little East Conference victory Tuesday evening at Clean Harbors Stadium.

Mass Maritime (8-5, 4-2 LEC) started quickly (six unanswered goals in the first 11 minutes) but needed to finish just as quickly to stave off Eastern (4-8, 1-3 LEC), which had limited the Bucs to one goal over 19 minutes that helped erase the early seven-goal deficit.

As part of the Warriors' 10-1 scoring surge over 15 minutes, six different players had goals and six added assists. Senior Zacharie Appolon (Stamford) had three goals and two assists, and first-year player Tanner Drobish (Wallingford) three goals and an assist in that run.

Sophomore Mike Stevenson (Shelton) tied the game with 2:29 left in the first half and Appolon lifted the Warriors into their first lead, 10-9, seconds before the close of the first half. Drobish's third goal of the game out of the half made it 11-9 before the Bucs rallied, scoring 11 unanswered goals and holding the Warriors scoreless for 26 minutes until first-year player Connor Chirico's (Milford) second goal of the match in the final 70 seconds closed out the scoring.

Drobish and junior Brycen Kennedy (Southington) led Eastern with three goals each, with Kennedy's second point of the match five minutes into the second quarter representing the 100^th point of his 40-game career. Appolon had three assists and two goals.

Eastern was able to hold MMA's second-leading scorer Quinn Mucha (43 goals/30 assists) to one goal and one assist on ten shots, but Jack Iversen (22/32), Cooper Barrett (33/6) and Daniel Kane (45/40) dominated play offensively for the Bucs, each scoring five goals and combining for seven assists. Eastern surrendered more than 50 shots (53) for the fourth time this year.

Junior Rick O'Neal (East Hartford) won 12 faceoffs to go over 300 in his career and picked up nine ground balls, while first-year defenseman Eric Suzio (Meriden) corralled six ground ball and Appolon and junior defenseman Cody Brown (Waterford) collecting five each.

Eastern, which has split eight road games, returns home for only the fourth time this year when it hosts the University of Massachusetts Boston Saturday at noon at Rick McCarthy Field.