BRISTOL, R.I. - Roger Williams University Men's Lacrosse utilized a strong first quarter to take down the Leopards of Wentworth Institute of Technology 11-7. The Hawks improve to 8-6 overall and 6-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) while the Leopards slide to 10-4 overall and 3-4 in the CCC.
The Hawks outscored Wentworth 6-1 in the first quarter to take a comfortable lead that sustained them the Hawks for the rest of the match. At 13:55 John Riccardi (Duxbury, Mass.) drove hard to net and finished for the Hawks first score. Steve Glover (Marstons Mills, Mass.) connected with Ryan Coakley (Flemington, N.J.) to answer for WIT at 8:21 and give the Leopards their only goal of the first period. RWU netted the next five scores; Todd Carson (Pennington, N.J.) hit at 6:01, Riccardi found Jon Nessa (Concord, Mass.) who finished at 3:25, Patrick Holland (Wilton, Conn.) fed Will Siefert (Duxbury, Mass.) at 2:32, and Drew Beck (South Salem, N.Y.) hit a cutting Nessa for a spectacular behind the neck finish with time running out in the period to put the tally at 6-1.
The Leopards outscored the Hawks in the second period 2-1. Dillon Lynch (Southwick, Mass.) finished on a move from the wing at 13:12 giving the Leopards their second goal. Glover made his own opening and hit for the Leopards second score of the period at 11:17. Siefert answered for the Hawks at 4:46 to conclude the scoring of the first half and bring the score 7-3.
Roger Williams built on its first half lead in the third period outscoring the Leopards 3-2. Beck assisted Tim Kelly (Ridgefield, Conn.) to open the scoring in the second half at 10:28 for RWU. Kelly then hooked up with Siefert at 9:17 to give the Hawks their largest lead of the contest at 9-3. Tim Paralato (Needham, Mass.) cut into the lead hit Coakley for his second score for WIT at 4:45. Carson and Chris Kipp (Scarborough, Maine) traded unassisted goals at 3:48 and 3:32 for their respective teams to put the score at 10-5.
Siefert scored his fourth of the day on a pass from Nick Gagnon (Milton, Mass.) and to give RWU their eleventh and final goal on the day. The Leopards would manage two late scores in the final minutes. Michael Cushera (Waltham, Mass.) finished on a pass from Kipp at 1:25 and then assisted Coakley for his hat trick on the day.
The Hawks had sizeable advantages in shots, ground balls, and face-offs. Alan Williams (Bristol, R.I.) went 14-19 on face-offs and scooped up game high 11 ground balls.
Jared Prolux (Nashua, N.H.) saved nine shots on goal in the loss and Luke Aubrey stopped 6 balls in the win.
Wentworth returns to action for their final CCC match up with Salve Regina in Newport, R.I., Wednesday, April 24th at 7:00 p.m. The Hawks are idle and await the final conference standing to determine their seeding for the CCC Championship Tournament scheduled to begin April 27th.
