DANBURY, CT (Apr. 20) — Brendan Gill made 23 saves and held Western Connecticut scoreless in the fourth period, allowing the Salem State Vikings to escape with a 6-5 victory over the Colonials in a Little East match on Tuesday night.
Trailing 5-2 at the half, the Western Connecticut State University men’s lacrosse team dominated play in the third quarter to narrow the gap to 6-5, but the Salem State College defense and goaltending proved too tough for the Colonials in the fourth quarter.
Senior A.J. Barbieri (Islip Terrace, NY) scored a game-high three goals and sophomore Sean Macey (New Fairfield, CT) added two for the Colonials.
Jonathan Falls (Seekonk, MA) led a balanced Salem State attack with two goals, followed by Justin Jones (Danvers, MA), Michael Carpenito (Leominster, MA), Brandon Cali (Leominster, MA), and Daniel Murray (Salem, MA) who each scored once.
Salem State jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead after one minute of play and held that edge until Cali scored an unassisted goal at the 4:23 mark of the first quarter to make the score 2-0. Barbieri got the Colonials on the board late in the first quarter, making the score 2-1 after one.
Salem State increased its advantage with a short-handed goal early in the second quarter, but Barbieri answered for the Colonials less than a minute later. Salem State closed out the half with back-to-back goals less than a minutes apart, to take a 5-2 lead at intermission.
For more than 12 minutes in the third quarter the Colonials dominated play at both ends of the field. Barbieri scored his third goal early in the period and Macey’s two goals evened the score at 5-5 with three minutes remaining in the quarter. Falls answered for Salem State on the next possession, giving the visitors a 6-5 lead going into the final period.
Neither team managed to score in the fourth quarter, but not from lack of effort. In the fourth quarter alone, WestConn outshot Salem State 12-3, and 29-5 for the second half. The Colonials dominated time-of-possession and continued to pressure the Viking defense, but Salem State withstood every attempt by WestConn and escaped with a 6-5 victory.
For the game, WestConn held a 51-21 advantage in shots, 28-11 in shots on goal. WestConn’s Tyler Martone (Cheshire, CT) recorded only five saves, all in the first half of play.
Western Connecticut Sports Information