CAMBRIDGE Mass. - The Roger Williams University Hawks' men's lacrosse team fell short to MIT, 20-10, Wednesday night in a non-conference match on Jack Barry Field.
 
The Hawks offense was led by Kevin Murphy (Ramsey, N.J.) who had three points coming from two goals and one assist, Matt Hemmert (Braintree, Mass.) added two goals and Ryan Vendetti (Farmington, Conn.) tallied three points with a pair of goals and an assist. Aaron D'Aversa (Sea Cliff, N.Y.) made 17 saves in the contest with 20 goals allowed.
 
For MIT, the Engineers offense was paced by Heath Nilsen, who had four goals and four assists with a ground ball. Zach Bleil had five points, potting four goals and dishing out an assist.
 
Matt Halpin (Hanover, Mass.) had two caused turnovers while picking up six ground balls and Mike Intravaia (Weymouth, Mass.) also had two caused turnovers allowing him to recover three ground balls.
 
In the opening quarter MIT struck first with a goal 1:09 into the contest with Bleil scoring his first off an assist by Bennett Stankovits. Roger Williams quickly followed up with a goal by Halpin assisted by Murphy 1:35 into the first, leveling the score. The Hawks stuck again 3:57 into the quarter to take their first lead of the night with an unassisted goal scored by Vendetti. MIT responded with back-to-back goals by Garrett Campagna and Nilsen, retaking the lead.
 
With 4:25 remaining in the opening quarter, the Roger Williams leveled the game at 3-3 before a pair of goals by the Engineers scored 13 seconds apart, gave the Engineers a 5-3 advantage at the end of the first.
 
The Hawks did not back down as Riley Spellman (Manchester, N.H.) started a stretch of three straight goals for Roger Williams, who retook the lead 6-5. The lead did not last long as the Engineers responded with three straight going into the break, that sparked a 7-0 run taking control 12-6, with 6:50 remaining in the third quarter.
 
The Engineers outscored Roger Williams 12-4 in the second half, as they closed out the win.
 
MIT took 64 shots throughout the contest placing 37 on target and scoring on 20 of those opportunities.
 
"Credit to MIT, they are exceptional offensively and in faceoffs," said Head Coach Kevin Gould. We played a great first half but could not hold them off late in the game.  Our guys played hard and showed a lot of toughness on the road against a good opponent."
 
Roger Williams (2-2, 0-0 CCC) will play Rivier on Saturday Mar. 2 at 1:00 PM on Bayside Turf in a non-conference match, before hosting Anna Maria and Wheaton on Thursday, Mar. 7 and Saturday, Mar. 9 respectively.