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UMass Lowell holds off Dartmouth

Junior attack Nicholas Pino earned his second career hat trick as a River Hawk in an 11-10 victory over Dartmouth. (Photo courtesy of UMass Lowell Athletics)

Alexa Hyde

Connector Staff

The UMass Lowell men’s lacrosse team(3-11) squared off against the visiting Dartmouth Big Green (1-11) in a Tuesday night thriller to earn their third victory of the season.

“It was a great game. We had to stay in it for sixty minutes. It was back and forth. I thought both teams showed a lot of heart,” Head Coach Ed Stephenson said on the 11-10 UMass Lowell win.

Junior attack Nicholas Pino earned a hat trick on the night, his second career hat trick as a River Hawk. Sophomore captain Sean Tyrrell, the team leader in points, scored a goal and three assists to bring his point total to 36, with 19 goals and 17 assists so far this season. Freshman goalkeeper Grant Lardieri made 14 saves to earn a .583 save percentage.

The fast and physical contest also featured three penalties given to each team.

The River Hawks struggled early, letting Dartmouth quickly take the lead off of a hard shot just minutes into the game. Dartmouth held onto the lead for much of the first quarter, but two late goals and a penalty on Dartmouth ended the quarter in a 2-2 tie.

The second quarter featured UMass Lowell’s first lead of the night, after lagging behind a Dartmouth goal scored early in the quarter. The River Hawks struggled with turnovers initially, seeing seven in the period, but a goal from Tyrrell gave the team momentum. UMass Lowell scored another three goals in the following four minutes and limited Dartmouth to just one shot.

The half ended with a 7-5 UMass Lowell lead.

After the break, the River Hawks came out strong offensively, earning a quick goal by sophomore attack Mathew Balter, his second of the night and 18th of the season. The evenly-matched third quarter featured three goals from each team, one penalty each, and six turnovers from UMass Lowell compared to two from the Big Green. Lardeiri came up with a big save in the final seconds to secure the River Hawk’s lead of two going into the final quarter.

Dartmouth applied high pressure and increased physicality to muscle their way to the first goal of the fourth quarter. While Lardeiri made a pair of big saves, Dartmouth earned another goal, with less than ten minutes left to play, to tie the score up at 10 a piece.

UMass Lowell’s Pino earned his third goal of the night, and the game winner, just minutes after Dartmouth tied it up. The River Hawks resorted to a more defensive game as Dartmouth earned another six shots. Lardeiri made another two big saves to secure the win for UMass Lowell.

The River Hawks return to action on Sunday, April 24 at 1:30 p.m. to face off against UMBC in an America East match-up.

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