BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Men's Lacrosse team fell to Kean University 11-7 on Wednesday afternoon at Bayside Field in a non-conference matchup.
The Cougars used a four-goal second quarter to take control of the game and added four more goals in the final period to secure the win. Roger Williams moves to 1-4 on the season, while Kean improves to 4-3.
Kean struck first with 6:36 remaining in the opening quarter as TJ Mills finished a pass from Oliver Lugo to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Roger Williams answered just over a minute later when Aidan Koster (Reading, Mass.) scored unassisted to even the score at 1-1 heading into the second quarter.
Roger Williams briefly took the lead early in the second period when Alex Daigneault (Winthrop, Mass.) scored his first goal of the season off a feed from Eric Izzo (Northford, Conn.) with 14:32 remaining. Kean responded with a four-goal run, including three straight goals from Aarin Arbore and one from Miguel Lontok, to take a 5-2 advantage. Matt Kennedy (Cumberland, Maine) halted the run with an unassisted goal with 5:02 left in the half, cutting the deficit to 5-3 heading into halftime.
The Hawks continued to push in the third quarter as Ethan Mahoney (Southington, Conn.) scored off a pass from Brady Lee (Mattapoisett, Mass.) to bring RWU within one. Kean answered with goals from Lugo and Tyler Scott before Caleb McKeown (Plymouth, Mass.) converted on a man-up opportunity, assisted by Koster, to make it 7-5 entering the fourth quarter.
Lee opened the final period with an unassisted goal to cut the Kean lead to 7-6, but the Cougars responded with two more to make it 9-6. Lee fired another unassisted goal to keep RWU close at 9-7, but Kean would score two more to pull away for the 11-7 victory.
Kean finished with a 31-26 advantage in shots and held a 20-13 edge in shots on goal. Roger Williams narrowly won the faceoff battle 11-10 and collected a slight advantage in ground balls, 32-29. The Hawks also cleared the ball successfully on 14-of-19 attempts, while the Cougars went 20-for-27 on clears.
Kean was led by Arbore, who scored three goals in the contest, while Lontok added two goals and an assist. Mills finished with a goal and two assists, and Lugo recorded a goal and an assist for the Cougars.
For the Hawks, Lee led the offense with two goals and an assist. Koster added a goal and an assist, while Matt Kennedy, McKeown, Mahoney, and Daigneault each recorded a goal.
Defensively, Roger Williams recorded nine saves in the contest while Kean finished with six stops. Drew LaChapelle (Andover, Mass.) picked up five ground balls, while Alex Burrill (Scituate, Mass.) and David Rizzo (Metheun, Mass.) picked up four each.
Roger Williams (1-4, 0-0 CNE) will return to action on Saturday, Mar.14 at Eastern Connecticut State before traveling to Massachusetts Maritime on Tuesday, Mar. 17.
