NEWTON, MA- Nick Sampson (Londonderry, NH) scored the game-winning goal with 1:16 left in overtime to seal a 9-8 victory over visiting Roger Williams University in the Lasell College men's lacrosse home opener on Wednesday afternoon. Sampson took a feed from Dylan Gray (Bayport, NY) and pounded the ball past Hawk goalkeeper Tyler Roebuck (Montgomery, NY) to give Lasell their first win of the early 2011 season.
Sampson was an offensive threat throughout the exciting non-conference match, recording four of Lasell's nine goals. Gray added a game-best six points, scoring one goal and dishing out five helpers throughout the contest. Senior midfielder Chris Bulkley (Groton, CT) notched three points, scoring twice and adding an assist and Jon Elia (East Lyme, CT), Sean Speciale (Hillsborough, NJ), and Dylan Fernandes (Billerica, MA) tallied one point each.
Lasell's goalkeeper Eric Walsh (Weymouth, MA) put in 63 minutes of tremendous work, fending off 20 of Roger Williams on-goal attempts. Walsh added six ground balls in his first win of the season.
On the visitors side, Drew Smith (Blue Point, NY) recorded a team best-three points, all on assists, while Jim Turenne (Bristol, RI), Justin Leddy (Sea Girt, NJ), and Logan Roebuck (Montgomery, NY) added two goals each. Austin Fehringer (Rockville Center, NY) went 12-for-21 in face-offs, holding a slight overall advantage over Lasell (9-21). Fehringer also collected a game-best 10 ground balls.
Tyler Roebuck made 16 saves in a valiant effort in the cage as the Hawks fall to 0-1 after their season opener.
Bulkley put Lasell on top in the first quarter with a pair of goals. Gray set up Bulkley on the first mark of the contest, scored just 2:59 into play, and Fernandes aided on the second goal, scored with just 36 seconds left to play in the period. Lasell held a 2-0 edge after the first frame.
Fehringer won the initial face-off of the second quarter after a Lasell violation and quickly dished off to Turenne who tore through the lane to score, unassisted, 31 seconds into play. Leddy knotted the score at 6:03 picking up a rebound off an errant save and firing one over Walsh's shoulder while in an extra-man situation. The 2-all tie would remain in place through the 14th minute of the quarter, when Sampson and Speciale broke the eight minute scoring drought with back-to-back tallies.
Before the teams parted for intermission, Roger Williams' Jim Tancredi (Bloomingburg, NY) registered one last goal to cut the visitors deficit to one, 4-3, at the conclusion of the first half.
Lasell edged Roger Williams in ground balls (23-22), saves (12-10), shots (22-20), and clears (10-8) in the half. Lasell's extra-man defense also did a good job of handling the Hawks offense, shutting down 3-of-4 chances in the half. The visitors, however, won the battle at the X, securing 7-of-9 face-off's in the half.
The third period belonged almost entirely to the visitors as Roger Williams outscored Lasell, 3-1. The score evened for the second time when Logan Roebuck received a pass from Smith on a high-to-low cut and shot from point-blank range into the top corner of Lasell's net. The Hawks produced their first lead of the game one minute later, at 3:30, when Ian Powers (Shrewsbury, MA) curled from behind the cage and bounced in a low shot.
After another Turenne mark extended the Hawks lead, Sampson brought Lasell back within one goal in the 12th minute to finish scoring for the quarter with Lasell lagging, 6-5.
Roebuck struck again in the final period of regulation, boosting the Hawks advantage to two (7-5). Lasell responded by scoring the next three marks of the game, beginning with Sampson who completed a hat trick at 3:08 off of a feed from Gray. Gray then cut down the middle of the box to score the game-tying goal just over a minute later, and Elia restored Lasell's lead (8-7) when he took advantage of Roebuck straying from his pipe to slice one past the goalie.
With just over five minutes left in regulation, a scramble of turnovers in front of Lasell's net turned into the game-tying goal which forced overtime. With a slew of players all vying for the loose ball, Beck eventually was successful in securing the pick-up and dished off to a wide open Leddy who hit quick to force the extra frame.
Both teams got off additional shot chances through the final stretch, including a cannon from Lasell's Dan Clark (Scarborough, ME) with 35 seconds in regulation, but Roebuck protected the Hawks net to move into overtime.
Sampson's game-winner broke the plane of the goal 2:44 into overtime.
Lasell (1-1) returns to action on Saturday, March 12th, facing off against non-conference rival Plymouth State University at 1:00 p.m. on Grellier Field.