The Providence College men’s lacrosse team defeated UMass Lowell, 11-6, on March 10 at Cushing Field in Lowell, Mass. Junior Will Mazzone (Stony Brook, N.Y.) led the Friars with five points on two goals and three assists. Senior Greg FitzMaurice (Huntington, N.Y.) and freshman Joshua Keller (Grand Rapids, Mich.) each chipped in two goals for Providence.
The Friars were held scoreless during the first and fourth quarters, but exploded for 11 of the games 13 overall goals in the second and third quarters.
Trailing 1-0 after the first 15 minutes of play, FitzMaurice scored two of the Friars’ first three goals in the game to take a 3-1 advantage. He opened the scoring with an unassisted tally at 13:14 and struck again, just over two minutes later (10:02) with an assist from junior Nolan Fillet (Rockville, Md.) FitzMaurice’s goals book-ended a tally by sophomore Jarrod Neumann (Springfield, Mass.) at the 11:57 mark. It was Neuman’s first shot attempt of the season, which translated into his first collegiate goal.
The Friars stayed hot offensively in the second quarter, and scored three more goals to take a 6-1 lead. With 4:35 remaining on the clock, Mazzone found the back of the cage, unassisted. Keller followed with his first of the day off a feed from sophomore Keenan Assaraf (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) at the 2:44 mark. Junior Michael Perettine (Farmingdale, N.Y.) scored the Friars’ sixth-straight goal with 21-seconds remaining in the quarter, and was assisted by Mazzone. After the ensuing face-off, a stunned UMass Lowell, responded with a goal just eight-seconds later (:13). The goal was credited to Chris Litchfield, and was unassisted. Providence took a 6-2 lead into halftime.
The Friars opened the third quarter with four-straight goals to take a commanding 10-2 lead. Senior Buck McClure (Dallas, Texas) got the scoring started with his eighth goal of the year just 1:12 into the action, unassisted. Freshman Micky Carbone (Ridgefield, Conn.) followed with his first goal of the year three minutes later (10:44) and was assisted by Mazzone.
Mazzone set up the Friars’ next scoring chance with his third assist of the afternoon, as led Fillet to the cage with 4:08 left in the quarter. After handing out assists on the Friars’ previous two goals, Mazzone followed with a goal of his own (and second of the game) with 2:51 on the clock, unassisted.
Cory Highfield stopped the bleeding for UMass Lowell with his fifth goal of the season, assisted by Matthew Balter, with 1:11 remaining. However, Providence answered right back as Keller found the back of the net with 16-seconds left. Keller was assisted by senior Robert Caffrey (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.).
Providence took an 11-3 lead into the final quarter, where it yielded three goals to the River Hawks to close the game. Jon Phillips scored two goals during the stretch, while Highfield added the third.
Senior goalkeeper Peter Badgley (Summit, N.J.) earned the victory for Providence with eight saves. He played the first 45 minutes, before being replaced by freshman Michael Meeks (Annapolis, Md.) and senior Max Huber (Long Grove, Ill.). Meeks registered one save.
Providence out-shot UMass Lowell, 44-37, and dominated the ground-ball game, 49-28. Graduate student Cole McCormack (Rye, N.Y.) was impressive at the face-off “X”, as he earned 16 wins in his 20 opportunities.
