NEWARK, NJ—Visiting UMass Lowell dominated the first half and NJIT, the home team, dominated the second half. But in the end, UMass Lowell came away with a 9-7 win in a clash of first-year Division I men's lacrosse programs Saturday afternoon on Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.
With the teams each holding 0-3 won lost records to begin their inaugural seasons, the visiting River Hawks took a commanding early lead. UMass Lowell scored the game's first six goals and built an 8-1 advantage by halftime.
NJIT, which would allow just the one second-half goal, crept back into contention with a 2-0 third quarter and then scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter to close the score to 8-5. UMass Lowell got its lone second-half goal with 6:12 left in the game, but the Highlanders answered with a goal of their own just six seconds later and added another score less than a minute after that.
Despite the added excitement of a close finish, there would be no more scoring over the final 5:15 and the River Hawks held on for their first-ever victory, 9-7.
The vast majority of players on the field for both teams on Saturday were freshmen, and one of them, Sean Tyrrell scored the first two goals of the game for UMass Lowell, finding the back of the net at 12:31 and then 6:03 of the first quarter. Tyrrell would go on to net four goals and add an assist on the final score sheet.
The other five UMass Lowell goals came from five different players, all freshmen: Jon Philips, Cory Highfield, Matthew Balter, Liam Raffery, and Keenan Koswin. Five River Hawks had one assist each, including goal-scorers Tyrrell, Phillips and Highfield, plus Chris Litchfield and Michael Adler.
NJIT had four different goal scorers, three of whom scored two goals each. The three with two goals each were:
Gabe Giovanello,
Liam Derkasch, and
Tyler Baggett.
Joe Lomeli, who has scored at least one goal in each of the Highlanders' four games, netted one for NJIT vs. UMass Lowell.
John Roach, the season assists leader for the Highlanders, added two more on Saturday, bringing his total to six.
Zachary Melillo and
Ryan Bradway added an assist each for NJIT.
Both goalkeepers went the distance for their respective teams, with the win going to UMass Lowell sophomore Giles Ober, who made 5 saves. NJIT freshman
Nick Marzullo posted 13 saves, including 7 in the opening quarter, which helped limit the visitors to a 3-0 lead through one.
UMass Lowell's 8-1 halftime lead was reflected in territorial control and possession, but NJIT's defense, backed by Marzullo, held up well for most of the first quarter. The River Hawks were up by just 2-0 when Balter scored an unassisted goal with just two ticks left on the first-quarter clock.
The visitors then got a pair of goals in a span of just 21 seconds, striking at the 13:21 mark and then at 13:00, turning a 2-0 lead to 5-0 in the last two seconds of the opening quarter plus the first two minutes of the second.
Tyrrell made it 6-0 on his fourth goal of the day with 9:44 left in the second period before Derkasch's unassisted goal finally got the Highlanders on the board. However, the momentum change favoring the Highlanders was yet to come and the visitors stretched their lead to 8-1 with two more goals before the half.
The contrast between the halves was stark. NJIT spent most of the opening half defending in its own end. In the second half, everything flipped and it was the Highlanders attacking most of the time.
In addition to outscoring UMass Lowell 6-1 in the second half, NJIT got off as many shots (10) in the third quarter alone, as it had in the entire opening half. Then the Highlanders added 9 more shots in the fourth.
While NJIT's second-half play showed determination and commendable effort, UMass Lowell appeared content to defend and let time run off the clock with a lead that didn't get below three goals until Baggett's man-up tally for the Highlanders made the score 9-7 with 5:15 remaining.
NJIT, which had played its last three games at home, has one more on Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium before heading back out on the road.
The Highlanders will host Monmouth on Tuesday, March 17, at 7 pm.
