NEWARK, N.J. --- The final game of NJIT Men's Lacrosse's three-game homestand ended in defeat as the Highlanders were bested by the UMass Minutemen, 19-7, Saturday afternoon at Rutgers-Newark's Alumni Field.
Senior
Ryan Darrow recorded his second hat trick of the season with a trio of goals and added an assist while fellow senior
Aaron Forster added a pair of goals and assists to match Darrow with a team-high four points for NJIT (1-6). Sophomores
Colton Johnson and
Jackson Boyd chipped in a goal apiece to round out the Highlanders' offensive output.
Johnson was one of three NJIT players with a team-high three ground balls, with the others being senior
Kevin Falteisek and sophomore
Alexzander Hunt.
Hunt was able to stop 21 shots on the night to mark the third time in seven contests that the second-year keeper made 20 or more saves in a game.
NJIT stayed close with UMass (3-3) - who received votes in the USILA poll this week - in the first and last quarters but were unable to contain the Minutemen during the middle portion of the contest. Darrow's first goal with less than a minute to go in the first quarter set the score at 2-1 after the opening 15 minutes and goals by Darrow, Forster, Johnson and Boyd helped the Highlanders play UMass even in the fourth, 4-4.
Unfortunately, the difference in the game came during the second and third periods as UMass ooutscored NJIT 13-2
OTHER NOTES
- Entering today's game, Aaron Forster sat in tenth place on the active career goals list for Division I with 96. After his two-goal effort against UMass, Forster now sits two scores away from joining the eight other Division I players (as of March 9) to score 100 or more goals.
- Junior John Tachon also has a place in the national records because of his play. Tachon was in tenth place on the active list for career ground balls (194) entering the UMass game and added two more against the Minutemen.
NJIT will return to the road for one game next week, a 3 p.m. showdown with Saint Joseph's on Saturday, March 16 in Philadelphia.
