By Justin McKinney, Staff Writer

It was a tight game men’s lacrosse but they managed to hand the Norwich Cadets their first loss of the season and remain undefeated all-time as they won 9-8.

The Cadets were hot early on in the game as they netted two straight goals in the first quarter. However, Matt LaFond stood strong in the cage for the Corsairs as he turned away five shots in the first quarter.

After going scoreless in the first quarter it seemed as though the Corsairs were in a pretty tough spot as Norwich rang in the second with another goal.

Tom Donahue and Donavan Prozinski made their presence felt though as they both netted a goal in the second to cut the Norwich lead down to one.

Norwich would garner another two goals in the second though, while Sean Peters would also grab a goal and end the half with Cadets up two goals as the score stood at 5-3.

While the score may tell a somewhat different story the Corsairs defense was fantastic in the first half and while the offensive attack seemed to find itself late in the half it was the slow offensive start that led to the deficit.

The third quarter seemed to be a game of cat and mouse for both teams. Donavan Prozinski netted another two goals for the Corsairs. While Norwich matched him with another two of their own as the score hung at 7-5 going into the fourth quarter of play.

The Corsairs came to play in the fourth though, namely senior Anthony Gallo. Gallo came out hot in the fourth as he netted a goal less than thirty seconds into the quarter.

While Norwich did have an answer for Gallo’s first goal, they couldn’t find one for first-year Mike Rizzo’s.

Rizzo’s goal put the Corsair’s very much within striking distance of the Cadet lead as the score was 7-6 with a lot of time left on the game clock. Gallo was not done as he put another goal past the Cadet’s goalkeeper to knot the game up at seven all.

It was as if the steady defense that Norwich had played through the entire game was being torn to shreds by a Corsair team that seemed in far better shape than the Cadets.

It was that extra wind that the Corsairs had late in the game that hurt the Cadets so badly as they simply could not keep up.

As the game closed in on the five minute mark Anthony Gallo gave Norwich hell one last time as he netted a third goal and gave the Corsairs a lead for the first time in the game.

The Corsairs held strong late in the game as the Corsairs moved past the Cadets for their first win of the year.

LaFond had a career high nineteen saves and Anthony Gallo also had a career high in goals as he netted three. The Corsairs are away this Friday at Babson at 4 p.m.