Middlebury, Vt. – March 18, 2009 – The Springfield College men’s lacrosse team fell behind 6-1 after the first quarter of play and was unable to rally past No. 10 Middlebury as it fell, 11-7, in non-conference action on Wednesday afternoon.
With the loss, Springfield falls to 2-3 on the year.
The home Panthers came roaring out to start the game as they pumped in four goals in the opening 4:18 of the game to snag a 4-0 advantage. The Pride then netted its first goal of the game as Kyle Louer found the back of the cage for the first time this season at the 7:04 mark. Middlebury responded with an unassisted strike from Dave Campbell off the face-off just 11 seconds later to regain its four-goal advantage. Chris Teves then tallied his second goal of the frame with 57 seconds remaining to give the home squad a 6-1 advantage after the opening 15 minutes of play.
Joe Macchi recorded his first of two goals on the afternoon as he netted an unassisted strike 1:05 into the second quarter. Campbell then once again scored on the ensuing face-off, this time just nine seconds after Macchi’s goal. Middlebury’s Tom Petty followed that up with a man-up strike to give the hosts an 8-2 lead with just over seven minutes left in the opening half of play.
Springfield closed out the first half scoring as Macchi found the back of the cage and Jake Jones finished a feed from Mike Delia for a man-up goal to cut Middlebury’s lead to 8-4 heading into the half.
The Pride carried its new-found momentum in the start of the third as Kyle Gable scored with 9:53 on the clock to make it an 8-5 contest. However, a Matt Ferrer goal gave the home-squad a three-goal cushion with just over four minutes on the clock. Springfield still continued to surge, getting a goal from Delia with 38 seconds left to trail by just three going into the final stanza.
Pat Cavanugh made it a 9-7 game with a goal for the Pride with 11 minutes remaining, but that was as close as Springfield would get. Middlebury used goals from Mike Stone and Matt Virtue in the final five-plus minutes of the game to take the 11-7 decision.
Springfield was outshot 44-24 in the contest and lost the ground ball battle, 46-33.
Tom Albano finished with 11 saves in the cage for the Pride. Macchi led the attack with two goals, while Delia added a goal, an assist, and four ground balls. Chris Jez and Pete Sessa each picked up four ground balls as well for Springfield.
Stone, Teves and Campbell led a balanced Middlebury attack, scoring two goals apiece, as Pete Smith added three assists for the Panthers.
The Pride return to action on Saturday, March 28 when it opens Pilgrim Lacrosse League play at Wheaton College. Face-off is scheduled for 12:00 pm.
