PIRATES PULL AWAY LATE FROM REGIS

GEORGETOWN, Texas – The Regis College men's lacrosse team suffered a 12-8 setback to Southwestern University in game one of their spring break trip to Texas. The Pride (1-2) return to action on Saturday afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. matchup with the University of Dallas.

Leighton tied the score early at 1-1 before the Pirates added two more in period to take a 3-1 lead. The Pride answered with three goals of their own in the second quarter, as Leighton made it a 3-2 ball game with his second tally of the day. Matt Vogan (Belmont, Mass.) entered the scoring column with 12 minutes to play in the half and Billy Stewart (West Roxbury, Mass.) tied the game at 4-all with only 21 seconds to play. Current NECC Rookie of the Week Nicky Rodrigo (Miami, Fla.) picked up assists on both goals.

Southwestern's Tyler Downing struck first for Southwestern to put them back on top and nearly two minutes later, Michael Villa put SU on top 6-4. Vogan's second tally of the day cut the deficit back to one and the Pride entered the final period trailing 7-6 after Chris Campbell (South Hadley, Mass.) found the net.

The Pirates opened the final quarter on a 4-0 spurt to take a commanding 11-6 lead with just under nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Rodrigo and Leighton added late goals to make it an 11-8 game, but the deficit was too large as the Pride fell 12-8.

Leighton led the Pride with three goals and an assists, while Rodrigo had a five-point-day with a goal and four assists. Dan Hammond (Mansfield, Mass.) posted a team-best four groundballs, while Morgan Ford (Smyrna, Ga.) suffered the setback while making 16 saves.

Regis was outshot 53-21 in the contest and lost the groundball battle, 40-22.