Box Score  

MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team (1-3, 0-1 LEC) dropped its opening Little East Conference match of the season against the University of Massachusetts Boston (4-3, 1-0 LEC), 14-10, Monday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field. The Warriors thundered back from an early 6-2 deficit to tie the game twice in the opening minutes of the third quarter but went cold for nearly 25 minutes as the
Beacons regained their offensive momentum by connecting for six unanswered goals over 12 minutes to pull away.

The Warriors struggled to contain the Beacons early in the first quarter, conceding three goals inside the first 100 seconds. UMass Boston's Tyler Hilgert was at the heart of the action, assisting the second goal and scoring the third in a game where he had four goals and three assists. The response came from Eastern's top goal scorer in today's game, Tanner Drobish (Wallingford), who scored an unassisted opening goal for the Warriors with 10:45 to go in the first.
 
Entering the second quarter, the visitors had a four-goal cushion that stayed intact after the teams traded goals in the opening two minutes of the second. Eastern's leading scorer on the season Landon Mabb (Sun Prairie, WI) scored his second of the day to bring the Warriors within three once again on an unassisted goal. Warren Channing (Glastonbury) and Drobish combined for three goals as the Warrior defense shut out the Beacons for the remainder of the half, as well as the first three and a half minutes of the third quarter.
 
By the time Jackson King was able to break the UMass Boston scoring drought, the Warriors were right back in it. Anthony Mazza (Warwick, NY) scored his first collegiate goal to tie the score at eight with ten minutes remaining in the third. Midway through the third, the Beacons took off as Patrick Dwinnells scored his third of the season and setting off a run of six consecutive goals for his team. UMass Boston was able to hold strong defensively for over 20 minutes in the second half until Mabb and Drobish were able to score two goals in the final 61 seconds of play. It was too little too late for the Warriors, who lost their fifth consecutive game against the Beacons after a 26-0 start.
 
In net, Gregory Hilinski (Shelton) made a career-high 17 saves, while James Boldy made 15 for the visitors. UMass Boston's Nolan Beauregard led all players with nine ground balls and his teammate Holden Kuzniar caused three turnovers, also a game-high. The Warriors finished with a slight edge on faceoff wins, defeating the Beacons 15-12 in that category.First-year player Jake Correia (East Lyme) came off the bench to go 6x8 from the faceoff X, while sophomore Gavin DeLucia (Uncasville) was 5-of-9. The Warriors won four of six faceoffs during their second-quarter surge when they limited the visitors to one goal to pull to within one, 7-6, at the break.

Since winning the first 26 matches in the all-time series with UMB, Eastern has dropped the last five, but tightened the gap Monday after losing 24-8 a year ago at Boston. The Beacons have reached the LEC championship match in four of the last six seasons, capturing crowns in 2021 and '22.
 
The Warriors are back in action on Saturday for their second Little East Conference matchup of the season, this time hosting Plymouth State University at 4 p.m. The Panthers bring a 4-3 record into Saturday's game and have yet to begin conference play. In their most recent match, Plymouth State defeated Johnson & Wales on Saturday by a score of 13-6. Hunter Richards, Colby Walden, and Seamus Tattan each scored three goals in that game for the Panthers. In the 2025 season, Plymouth State finished 11-5 (6-2 LEC) and defeated the Warriors twice at home by a combined score of 37-15. The Panthers exited the LEC Tournament in the semifinals against UMass Boston, while the Warriors were eliminated in their first-round game against Plymouth State.