By Staff Writer Zach Lunghi.

Head coach Ryan Murphy and the UMass Dartmouth men’s lacrosse team faced three road games this past week. The schedule would prove to be a great test for the group as they looked to weather the storms of both the Keene State Owls and the Coast Guard Bears, both of which have seen plenty of success so far this season.

Keene State currently resides on top of the Little East standings while the Corsairs’ 4-5 overall record places them in fourth. Keene State also finished first in the Little East conference last year, holding a record of 7-0 in interconference games.

As for the Coast Guard, they had strung together a five game win streak prior to hosting UMass Dartmouth. Those five games also helped to boost them to an overall 7-2 record.
Mike Rizzo’s hat-trick performance and the collective efforts of the team earned them a win over Emerson College to kick off the three road games. Emerson briefly tied the game during the second quarter but other than that, Dartmouth controlled the scoreboard.

Tim Jordan found the back of the net first and would then be backed up by Kevin Swenson shortly after. The two goal lead then gained contributions from Donovan Prozinski, Zak Wirsen and Rizzo. Their tallies would bring them to a 10-6 victory.
However, the team was not able to repeat the same successes against the likes of Keene State or the Coast Guard. The Corsairs would fall to the Owls by a score of 19-10 and were bested by the Bears with a final score of 17-5.

During the Keene State tilt, the Corsairs dug a hole for themselves early on when they trailed the Owls 11-3 at the half. Goaltender, Ted McCaffrey, did his best to give his group a fighting chance, saving 16 out of 35 shots faced and allowing a foundation for Dartmouth’s 2nd half surge.

Unfortunately, they were unable to right the wrongs of their first half and wouldn’t be able to pull off the comeback.

Dartmouth would then face their out-of-conference opponent, the Coast Guard Bears.
Although the Corsairs briefly held a 2-1 lead during the first, the Bears would take full ownership of scoring with 13 unanswered goals. Not to mention, they also dominated the shots on goal category, having out shot the Corsairs 43-24.

Rizzo would notch a pair of goals in the first and then later on be backed up by teammates Prozinski, Swenson and Josh Souza.

Dartmouth would fall to the Bears as well, losing by a score of 17-5.

The Corsairs look to get back on track as they host the Umass Boston Beacons at Cressy Field.