BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University men's lacrosse team defeated No. 6 Curry on Saturday evening on Bayside Field, 12-6, in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament First Round.
 
With the win Roger Williams (13-4, 6-2 CCC) advances to the CCC Semifinals for the first time since the 2022 season. Curry (4-12, 2-6 CCC) closes their season with the loss.
 
Roger Williams out shot the Colonels 49-18, putting 24 of their attempts on cage. Roger Williams went 16-for-17 on clear attempts, while also winning the ground ball battle 50-20. The Hawks led the faceoff battle 15-7 in the contest.
 
For Curry, Brody Dalzell and Dom Cerone led with two goals, while Mac Kline added a goal and an assist. Anthony Lewis and Albie DiBella each had an assist, while Stephen Stackhouse tacked on a goal.
 
The Hawks offense was powered by Matt Hemmert who extended his single-season record in goals with four, scoring his 70^th goal of the season. AJ DaRin had four points with three goals and an assist, while Riley Spellman and Brian Gazard each had three points.
 
Defensively, Chris Giorgi and Harrison Steffens each had three caused turnovers in the game, while Kyle Zirn had two caused turnovers with six ground balls. Sean Hali went 12-for-15 on faceoffs, while Aaron D'Aversa had five saves in the win.
 
The Hawks struck first just under three minutes into the contest, when DaRin fired a shot into the back of the cage. A few minutes later, Albie DiBella found Dom Cerone, who leveled the score at 1-1. DaRin again came up big for the Hawks with another goal with 7:30 remaining in the opening quarter.
 
Curry again leveled the matchup when Dalzell leveled the score at 2-2. Hemmert then scored, 27 seconds later, before Kline struck with seven seconds remaining in the quarter to head into the second tied 3-3.
 
Hemmert and Spellman scored back to back goals to open up the second quarter with a 5-4 lead for the Hawks, but Curry cut into the lead with a goal with 3:36 remaining in the opening half. Murphy ended the half scoring a goal to take a 6-4 lead into halftime.
 
The Hawks came out in the third quarter with goals by Hemmert and Halpin.  Curry responded with Cerone and Stackhouse scoring a pair of goals, before Spellman struck with 12 seconds remaining in the third quarter, 9-6.
The Hawks added three in the fourth quarter to close out the win.
The Hawks will face No. 2 Western New England in Springfield on Wednesday, May 1 at 7:00 pm.