(Box Score)
WORCESTER, Mass. – Graduate student
Shawn Roche (Centerport, N.Y.) scored the
game-winning goal with 1:16 left in regulation Wednesday evening,
catapulting host Clark University to a thrilling 7-6 win over
Plymouth State University in a non-league men's lacrosse
contest on Granger Field.
The goal capped a back-and-forth affair between the two squads and
extends the Cougars' winning streak to three – their
longest since the middle of the 2006 season. Clark, 3-3, has
already eclipsed its win total from a season ago.
The Panthers took the lead on the game's first goal when
Brian Giroux (Wolfboro Falls, N.H.) took a feed
from Matt Johansmeyer (Shelburne Falls, Mass.) and
found the back of the net just 27 seconds into the game.
Clark answered back two minutes later when Garrett McAdam
(Portland, Maine) found a wide open JC Tsagarakis (Stonington,
Conn.) for his first goal of the season.
Junior Andrew Eriksen (Beverly, Mass.), who
finished with a game-high three goals, gave the edge back to
Plymouth State with help from freshman Ty Long
(Dover, N.H.) but Danny Heelan (Avon, Conn.) scored with less than
a minute left in the second period to even the score at 2-2 going
into halftime.
The teams traded goals in the first few minutes of the third period
as Eriksen, Clark's Chris Adams (Bradford,
N.H.), the Panthers' Mike Ventura (Columbia,
N.J.) and McAdam all registered goals to make the score 4-4. Adams
then collected an unassisted tally with under two minutes left in
the third to give the Cougars their first lead of the contest.
That advantage would be short-lived however, as Plymouth State
opened the fourth period with back-to-back goals from Teddy
Akriviellis (Dover, Mass.) and Eriksen to move ahead 6-5
with less than 11 minutes left.
The Cougars, playing their third straight home game, eventually
tied the game at the eight minute mark when Roche set up Tsagarakis
with the equalizer, making way for his game-clinching score less
than seven minutes later.
Clark got another strong performance in net from sophomore Andrew
DeVito (Glastonbury, Conn.) who turned back 12 shots, while the
Panthers' netminder, Kevin Hayes (Beverly,
Mass.) made six stops.
The Cougars return to action on Saturday with a 6 p.m. start
against Pilgrim League foe, Massachusetts Maritime, while the
Panthers visit Western Connecticut Saturday for the Little East
Conference opener at 12 noon.
(Courtesy of Clark Sports Information)
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