BRISTOL, R.I. – Senior Will Siefert's (Duxbury, Mass.) seven goals and one assist helped lift the Roger Williams University men's lacrosse team to a 19-7 triumph over Wentworth Institute of Technology in an opening-round contest of the 2016 Commonwealth Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Tournament on Saturday evening.
With the victory, the third-seeded Hawks improve to 11-7 and will travel to second-seeded Endicott on Wednesday for a semifinal round contest. The Leopards see their season come to an end with a 4-13 record.
Junior Max Cammarota (Redding, Conn.) set up junior John Lisitano (Guilford, Conn.) at the 11:20 mark of the first quarter to give Roger Williams a 1-0 lead. A little over three minutes after Lisitano gave the Hawks the 1-0 edge, Siefert extended the lead to 2-0. After Roger Williams' two goals to open the contest, senior Alec Paradis (Pelham, N.H.) got Wentworth on the board and cut the lead to one at 2-1 at 7:48. A marker from sophomore Eddie Hill (Somers, Conn) at 5:47 put Rogers Williams back up by two and gave the Hawks a 3-1 lead to close out the first quarter.
Roger Williams found the back of the net two more times in the early minutes of the second on back-to-back goals from Siefert to give the Hawks a 5-1 edge with 9:18 remaining in the half. Wentworth got a goal back thanks to an 8:05 man-up marker from senior Nick Parent (Windham, N.H.) to put the lead at 5-2, but two consecutive Hawk goals extended the lead to five at 7-2. After senior Tim Parlato's (Needham, Mass.) goal at 3:26 got Wentworth within four at 7-3, two goals from junior AJ Core (Syosset, N.Y.) and sophomore Eddie Hill (Somers, Conn.) through the final minute of the first half put Roger Williams up 9-3.
Lisitano tallied the first Hawks goal of the third quarter on a man-up situation at 13:44, followed up by a goal from Core to put the score at 11-3. At 10:45, Cammarota found the back of the net for the 12th Hawks goal as senior Cam Donnelly's (Medfield, Mass.) marker at 9:23 extended the lead to ten at 13-3.
After Roger Williams went up by ten goals, Wentworth found themselves falling further behind as Siefert notched two goals 53 seconds apart to push the lead to 15-3 with 6:02 left in the third to put the game out of reach. The Hawks capitalized on a Wentworth turnover as Lisitano third marker of the game at 2:47 gave them the 16-3 lead. Siefert and junior Stephen Assumma (South Salem, N.Y.) contributed two more Roger Williams goals to close out the third quarter with an extensive 18-3 advantage with one quarter left to play.
Despite playing from behind, Wentworth continued to claw its way back. On a man-up opportunity, Paradis found the back of the net 28 seconds into the fourth at 14:31, Wentworth's first goal since 3:26 of the second, to put the score at 18-4. Parent and freshman Jacob Eldred (Goffstown, N.H.) answered with two more goals for the Leopards and cut the lead to 18-6 with 8:17 left in the fourth. After Wentworth got three goals back, freshman Chris Bova's (Ridgefield, Conn.) goal at 7:11 increase the lead to 19-6. At 2:54, Paradis contributed his second man-up goal of the quarter with score at 19-7.
Along with Siefret, Lisitano tallied three goals and three assists, while Core and Hill contributed two goals each. Core also had four assists and scooped up four ground balls as senior Dan Arket (Poughqug, N.Y.) went 10-for-21 at the X and freshman Sean Errasti (Duxbury, Mass.) scooped up five ground balls. Junior Connor Carroll (Madison, Conn.) and freshman Weston Nolan (Falmouth, Maine) split time in goal and had a combined eight saves.
Paradis paced the Leopards with three goals, scooped up five ground balls and caused three turnovers as Parent contributed two goals and one assist. Parlato also tallied a goal and led all players with 10 ground balls and had two caused turnovers. Freshman Peter Andersson (Madison, N.J.) was 14-of-23 at the X. Sophomores Adam Dufault (Lexington, Mass.) and Scott Boucher (Salisbury, N.H.) split time in the goal and had a combined 17 saves through 60 minutes.
Roger Williams held advantages in shots (51-28) and ground balls (51-35), while Wentworth had a 15-12 edge at the X. Both Roger Williams and Wentworth went 3-for-5 in man-up opportunities.
