NEWTON, Mass. (3/26/16) – With five seconds remaining in regulation, freshman David Sheehan (Tewksbury, Mass.) made an open-net defensive save to grant the Lasell men's lacrosse team a 10-9 victory over Salem State Saturday afternoon at Grellier Field. The Lasers improve to 5-2 overall while the Vikings dip to 4-3.
Senior Pat Egan (Glen Rock, N.J.) registered his 100th career point with 57 seconds left in the third quarter, to add to a one-goal, four-assist performance. Egan tallied the milestone on an assist to senior Josh Gallant (Hampstead, N.H.), who also added a pair of goals in the victory. Joining Gallant in the two-goal outing was senior Casey Sullivan (Quaker Hill, Conn.) and sophomore Austin Tomasetti (Elmsford, N.Y.), while juniors Anthony Saitta (Derry, N.H.) and Connor Johnson (Hampstead, N.H.), and freshman Ryan Madden (Hingham, Mass.) added a single tally.
Senior Jacob Scordato (Milford, Mass.) led the charge with his third hat trick of the season as the only Viking to net multiple goals. The visitors saw a single marker from Craig Denehy (Salem, Mass.), Ben Melaugh (Billerica, Mass.), David Dempsey (Tewksbury, Mass.), Bobby Bourgeois (Billerica, Mass.), and Thomas Lyons (Burlington, Mass.).
7:12 of scoreless lacrosse passed until Denehy put the Vikings on the map with a goal off Bourgeois' stick. The Lasers, however, would strike back with a pair of unassisted goals by Egan and Tomasetti, and would keep the Vikings at bay until the third quarter, when Bourgeois took an unassisted blast to frame for the 6-6 equalizer.
Both teams fought for the go-ahead marker in the closing minutes of the third, before Egan used back-to-back helpers for the 9-7 bump – highlighted by the senior attack's career milestone to close the stanza.
Down but not out just yet, the Vikings scored two goals to the Lasers' one in the final 15, both by Scordato, to trail Lasell by just a single tally, 10-9, with 59 seconds to play in the contest. Salem State nearly tied the game with five seconds left, but junior Jorge Salazar (Waltham, Mass.) denied Melaugh the opportunity. Melaugh came up with the ground ball, catching Salazar out of goal, and had a wide open shot on frame, before Sheehan dove in front of the open cage, blocking the game-tying shot to preserve the Lasers' 10-9 victory.
Salazar earned the win (5-1) with eight saves for the Lasers, while Kevin Lally suffered the loss (3-3) in between the pipes for Salem with 16 saves on 26 shots.
The Lasers will hit the road on Saturday, April 2 to open their Great Northeast Athletic Conference at Rivier University with faceoff slated for 1:00 p.m.