CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Outscoring Lasell University by a 6-1 margin in the third quarter, the MIT men's lacrosse team pulled away for an eventual 15-5 home win over the Lasers in the season opener for both teams. The win was the first for MIT in the all-time series since the 2010 season.
Sophomore Max Litchfield (Barrington, N.H.) and junior Colby Buccheri (Rowley, Mass.) scored two goals apiece for the Lasers, and sophomore James Anderson (Medway, Mass.) tallied a team-high two assists. Senior Ben Werner (Boxford, Mass.) won 16 of 23 face-offs and picked up eight ground balls.
MIT got on the board quick with a pair of early unassisted goals by sophomore James Santoro (Tewksbury, N.J.) and freshman Teddy Corcoran (Harrison, N.Y.). Lasell freshman Deven Debay (Pelham, N.H.) found the back of the net at the 4:47 mark to get the Lasers within 2-1 and the teams traded goals for a 3-2 margin after one period.
Buccheri tied the game at 3-3 on man-up goal just 46 seconds in the second quarter before the Engineers answered with a decisive run to put the game away. Juniors Oliver Heins (Fair Haven, N.J.) and Gavin Vandenberg (Elmhurst, Ill.) put the hosts up 5-3 at the half, followed by six straight scores to begin the third that stretched the advantage to 11-3.
Litchfield notched another man-up goal to close out the third-period scoring before MIT outscored the visitors 4-1 in the fourth to seal the win. The Engineers finished the game with a pair of man-up goals of their own, coming from junior Mark Heatzig (Boca Raton, Fla.) off an assist from first-year Tory Lentine (Flemington, N.J.) and then a Lentine tally off a Heatzig pass.
Sophomore Alex Beauchemin (Westfield, Mass.) stopped nine shots in goal for Lasell while sophomore Lucas Drexler-Bruce (Denver, Colo.) made nine saves for MIT to earn the win. Freshman Chris Perrino (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) came in for the final 8:11 of the game and made four stops.
Lasell is back on the turf with the home opener next Wednesday, Mar 4, at 3 p.m. against Roger Williams University. MIT is back in action at home on Saturday, February 29th as the Engineers host RPI for a 3 p.m. start.
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