Box Score (.PDF) | Highlights | PhotosLOWELL, Mass. - The UMass Lowell men's lacrosse fell to Providence College, 11-6, on Tuesday afternoon at the Cushing Field Complex. The River Hawks fell to 1-4 on the season, while the Friars improved to 4-2 overall.
"It was a tough game, they played very good defense," said Head Coach
Ed Stephenson. "I thought we played very good defense, that's the best defensive game we've played this year. I was really proud of our guys, I thought we fought for 60 minutes. With a young squad that's what we're looking for, each week we take a step forward. We had a little bit of trouble finding the net. We had a couple close looks and we got shut out a bit, their goalie is one of the top goalies in the country. We had some good looks, we played hard and I was really proud of them."
The River Hawks controlled the game in the first quarter, taking a 1-0 lead with a goal from freshman attackman
Cory Highfield (Georgetown, Ontario) with 8:55 remaining in the quarter. Sophomore goalkeeper
Giles Ober (Southborough, Mass.) would stop five shots in the first quarter to keep it a 1-0 game heading into the break following the first quarter.
The Friars would answer with a strong offensive showing in the second quarter, scoring six straight goals before sophomore defenseman
Christopher Litchfield (Burlington, Mass.) would find the back of the net for the River Hawks with 13 seconds remaining in the half. Carrying the 6-2 lead into the second half, Providence would add another four straight goals before Highfield scored his second of the game for the River Hawks with 1:11 remaining in the third quarter.
After a late Providence goal with 16 seconds left in the quarter would give the Friars an 11-3 lead in the final seconds of the third, the River Hawks found an offensive response to cut the Friars lead down in the final quarter of the game. With two goals from freshman attacker
Jon Phillips (Delta, B.C.) and a third of the game from Highfield, the River Hawks doubled their score. UMass Lowell was unable to overcome the Friars' defense enough to battle back, resulting in the River Hawks' third home loss of the season.
Highfield (3), Phillips (2) and Litchfield (1) were the goal scorers for the River Hawks in the game, but four other players also contributed points. Freshman attackman
Matthew Balter (West Sand Lake, N.Y.), sophomore attackman
Martin Winter (Lake Oswego, Ore.), freshman midfielder
Keenan Koswin (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and sophomore midfielder Sam Klingspon (Aloha, Ore.) all added an assist in the game.
Will Mazzone was the leading scorer for the Friars, adding five points (2g,3a) in the game. Greg Fitzmaurice (2g), Nolan Fillet (1g,1a) and Joshua Keller (2g) also finished the game with multiple points.
The Friars outshot the River Hawks 44-37 in the contest. They also recovered more ground balls, 49-28, over UMass Lowell. The River Hawks struggled in the faceoff circle, winning five out of 21 faceoff attempts. Neither team converted on an extra man opportunity, UMass Lowell had six chances while Providence had five.
Ober finished the game with 12 saves in net for the River Hawks, while Peter Badgley made eight stops in net for the Friars.
The River Hawks will return to action this Saturday, March 14th as they play their first America East Conference game at the University of Hartford. The game is set to begin at 1:00 p.m.
