By Justin McKinney, Staff Writer
Despite coming off a huge win against Norwich, UMass Dartmouth’s men’s lacrosse team was unable to find that same comeback magic against the Babson Beavers as they fell short 15-4.
The game was pushed ahead a day due to snow cutting the Corsairs preparation plans short by 24 hours. The game began with a warm temperature of 50 degrees, however the temperature quickly plummeted down to below forty right after the first face-off.
It seemed the temperatures were getting as cold as the Corsairs. The Beavers were flying around the field and moving the ball with a purpose, they simply out-gunned the Corsair defense. While the first quarter was a hailstorm of shots for goalkeeper Matt LaFond, he certainly looked strong in the cage.
The stat line will tell you LaFond let up five goals, however anyone that was at the game will tell you LaFond hung tough. The goals that were let up were simply un-savable; I highly doubt even in the best goalies in professional lacrosse would have been able to corral the close and tough angled shots LaFond saw throughout the game.
The Corsair offense faced the same problems as the defense, Babson was on them like white on rice.
Every time an offensive player had the ball, a Beaver defender met him with hard and fast stick checks making it miserable to move the ball as the Corsairs only had 17 total shots on goal, while the Beavers had a total of 56.
That being said one Corsair on the offensive end had a great day as attackmen Sean Peters netted four goals with the help of Donavan Prozinski and Anthony Gallo on the assists. Peters tied his career high for goals in a single game and was also the only goal-scorer for the Corsairs in the game.
While Thursday may have been a tough day for the Corsairs, Friday proved to be much better as the team was informed by the LEC that Goalkeeper Matt Lafond and Midfielder Anthony Gallo were honored by the league for their efforts in the weeks play.
LaFond captured the title of Goalkeeper of the week after his monster game against Norwich a week ago. LaFond had a 70.4 save percentage in the game and managed to save a total of 19 shots in the game, both were career highs for the senior. To put it simply, LaFond was brilliant in the game—he saved the ball, and he cleared the ball, and did both with precision.
Gallo received his first ever honor from the LEC as he was named offensive player of the week following his powerful three goal performance against Norwich.
Its worth noting that Gallo’s big goals came late in the game when the Corsairs were down to the Cadets. Gallo also had an assist in game; he was just unstoppable.
The Corsairs resume action at home this Saturday at 3 p.m. on Cressy Field against Wheaton College.