BOSTON, Mass. – The MIT men's lacrosse jumped out to an 8-2 first-half lead before holding on to take an 18-11 victory over UMass Boston on a sunny Tuesday afternoon at James Cotter Field.
Riley Pierce had a game-high four goals, one assist and four groundballs, while
Garrett Campagna registered two goals and three assists to lead MIT to the victory.
THE BASICS:
- Scores: MIT 18, UMass Boston 11
- Records: MIT (2-3 Overall); UMass Boston (2-1 Overall)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Engineers jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the first quarter behind two goals from Campagna and goals from Hayden Calabretta and Denley Kofoed. Campagna scored on a solo effort at 9:08 before Kofoed netted his first of the contest on a feed from Bryce Metalios at 8:29. Campagna then found the net again, finishing on a pass from Oscar Lindenthal at 7:09. UMass Boston got one back at 5:27 but Bobby Jones netted the final score of the quarter at 4:33 to give MIT a 4-2 lead after one.
- MIT continued to add to its lead in the second quarter. Calabretta scored at 11:35 before Pierce found Metalios at the nine-minute mark to make the score 6-2. Pierce then added a pair of goals at 7:58 and 6:46 as the string of five straight MIT goals put the Engineers out in front, 8-2.
- UMass Boston stopped the MIT run with a goal at 4:29 but Theo Perkins scored at 2:30 to give MIT a 9-3 lead. The Beacons got another back before the break to make the score 9-4 at halftime.
- UMass Boston scored three-straight goals to open the second half, trimming what was a six-goal down to three with 8:34 left to play in the third quarter. Pierce and Metalios countered at 5:23 and 4:36 but two more Beacon goals pulled the hosts within two, 11-9, at 3:35.
- With its smallest lead since early in the first half, MIT responded with three goals in 70 seconds to push its advantage back to five. Pierce scored his fourth on an assist from Calabretta at 1:36. Mason Prettyman set up Alexander Shen at 1:28 and Metalios finished on a feed from Dominic Zuniga with 26 seconds left in the quarter to push the MIT lead back to five, 14-9.
- UMass Boston beat the buzzer for a goal at the end of the third quarter, but MIT scored four unanswered goals to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. Campagna set-up Metalios at 13:48 before Blount scored at 8:17 and Kofoed added his second with 5:37 left in regulation. Blount then scored again at 3:33 to net MIT an 18-10 advantage. The Beacons scored with a minute remaining to give the game an 18-11 final.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Tuesday's contest was the first meeting between the two programs since the 2023 season, a 21-13 win for MIT.
- Collin Lung and AJ Sachwitz each made six saves in the MIT goal, with Lung getting the start in the contest. The Engineers had a 13-9 advantage in shots in the game.
- Blount added three groundballs to his pair of fourth quarter goals.
- Campagna's three assists leave him just two shy of 100 in his MIT career.
- Kaden Fenno won 12 of 17 faceoff attempts and collected eight groundballs while Prettyman was 10-of-15 at the faceoff "x".
UP NEXT:
- MIT will play its first NEWMAC contest of the season on Saturday, March 14 at 4:00 PM at Emerson.
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