Boston, Mass. – The Emmanuel College men's lacrosse team held Lasell College to just one goal through three periods, before the Lasers fought back to take a 4-3 victory in double-overtime at Roberto Clemente Field on Tuesday night. The GNAC win boosts the Lasers to 8-6 on the season and 7-1 in league play, while the host Saints drop to 5-9 overall and 3-5 in GNAC action.
Emmanuel led for the majority of the contest and held a 2-1 lead at halftime. The Saints would go up, 3-1 with one quarter to play, before the visitors would go on a three-goal run to end the game.
The Saints got on the board early with an unassisted marker from freshman middie Michael Rogers (New Haven, Conn.), netted two and a half minutes into the action. Lasell would even the score at one, when Robbie Palazzo (Redding, Conn.) scored his 36th goal of the season with 4:24 remaining in the first quarter.
Emmanuel was able to tack on one more before the end of the quarter to surge back out in front, 2-1. Freshman Chris Curtis (Ashland, Mass.) swung behind the net and found a cutting Kaile MacLean Daley (Moretown, Vt.), who one-timed it past Lasell's David Walen (Longmeadow, Mass.) for his 25th goal of the year.
After a scoreless second quarter and a first half that saw just one penalty, the Saints would carry a 2-1 edge into the break. Emmanuel led the first-half charge, out-shooting Lasell, 19-10, in the opening 30 minutes.
Sophomore Ryan Sabuda (Indianapolis, Ind.) got a feed from classmate Jack Ruggiero (Manhasset, N.Y.) to combine for the third period's only scoring, as the Saints took the contest's largest lead at 3-1.
The fourth quarter belonged to the visitors, as Lasell took advantage of Emmanuel turnovers and the Saints gave up two unassisted goals eight minutes apart. Sophomore Dylan Fernades (Billerica, Mass.) scored at 10:27 and senior captain Dan Clark (Scarborough, Me.) tied the game at 3-all with 2:18 remaining in the game. A scoreless final two minutes sent the game into overtime knotted at 3-all.
Despite out-shooting the visitors 6-1 in the first four-minute OT, Emmanuel was unable to capitalize on the break.
The second overtime saw just one shot, the game-winner, fired in by Lasell sophomore Aaron LaPorte (Gorham, Me.). LaPorte's goal, scored 47 seconds into the second overtime, was his 10th of the season.
Saints sophomore Austin Lauzier (Bedford, N.H.) played the full 64:47 in goal for the Saints, making 6 saves and picking up 2 groundballs. Walen went the distance between the pipes for the Lasers, making 20 saves in the win.
Emmanuel nearly doubled up Lasell in total shots, holding a 45-23 advantage, with 23 of the Saints' shots coming on-goal, compared to just 10 SOG for the Lasers. The visitors led in groundballs, 25-21. Neither team was successful on their man-up scoring with Lasell going 0-4 and Emmanuel 0-3.
The Saints will play again this Saturday in Emmanuel's final regular season home contest. The Saints will host the Eagles of Daniel Webster College in a noontime start. Lasell will travel to Mount Ida College for a 3:00 PM start on Saturday.