Pride Men’s Lacrosse Opens 2023 Season with 11-6 Victory

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – After a close first half, Regis College scored seven of the final eight goals of the match to defeat MCLA, 11-6, Sunday afternoon in a non-conference men's collegiate lacrosse contest at Shewcraft Field.

MCLA (1-1) scored twice in the span of 42 seconds early in the third quarter to pull ahead, 5-4, on goals by Boden Dock and Nathan Haley, with Johnny Hebert assisting on both tallies. Two minutes later, Ryan Richardson (Corona, Calif.) tied the match at 5-5 with his third goal of the match, and then he assisted on the first career collegiate goal by Nick Klein (Buxton, Maine) to put the Pride ahead for good.

Klein would collect his second goal as Regis started to pull away, with Nate Arsenault (Westford, Mass.) scoring off an assist by Richardson late in the third quarter to give the Pride an 8-5 advantage. Haley scored on an extra-man opportunity early in the fourth quarter to pull the Trailblazers within two, but Regis would clinch the victory thanks in part to unassisted goals by Klein, Arsenault, and Connor Deveau (Harwich, Mass.).

Robby Fuller (Wolfeboro, N.H.) earned his first career collegiate victory in goal as he made nine saves, seven of them in the second half. The Pride defense also caused 12 of MCLA's 27 turnovers, led by Zach Sweeney (Torrington, Conn.) with four caused turnovers to go along with four groundballs, tied for the team lead along with Brendan Cook (Billerica, Mass.) and Colin McGarry (Brookline, N.H.).

Dock opened the scoring for the Trailblazers, but Regis responded midway through the first quarter with a goal by Anthony Marsella (Johnston, R.I.) off an assist from Cook. MCLA retook the lead at 2-1 on a goal by Jaquan Chinnis before the Pride took advantage of an extra-man opportunity, as Arsenault found Richardson for the game-tying goal late in the first period.

Richardson earned his second goal of the game close to four-and-a-half minutes into the second quarter, and Evan Azary (Shelton, Conn.) followed with his first career collegiate goal, with Marsella assisting on both tallies. The Trailblazers closed to within one goal at 4-3 right before halftime on a successful point-blank shot by Nathan Haley.

MCLA goalie John Hankel kept the Trailblazers in the match with 17 saves as Regis outshot MCLA, 41-36, including a 28-15 advantage in shots on goal. Richardson and Klein each notched hat tricks with three goals apiece, plus Richardson earned two assists as did Marsella.

Regis (1-0) heads back on the road to face future conference foe Mitchell College Wednesday, March 8, starting at 3 p.m.