Zach Tolman
Staff Writer
The Springfield College men’s lacrosse team hosted Clark University on Stagg Field Wednesday night under the lights in a crucial NEWMAC match-up and came out victorious, winning 22-7.
The Pride came out firing in the first period, generating a total of 16 shots on goal while holding the Cougars to a measly four.
Clark goalkeeper, Kevin Ranta, the reigning NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Week, had his hands full on the day, facing 49 shots throughout the duration of the game.
“We challenged [Ranta] a lot,” Springfield coach Keith Bugbee commented. “It seems like we have a hard time in some of these games getting at goalies early. I just wanted us to get good shots early and we got some good ones right off of his hip. I thought we took some really good shots right away.”
Having many scoring contributors has been routine for the maroon and white this season, and this match-up proved to be no different, with 12 different individuals finding twine for the Pride. Most notably on the night was senior attack Ryan Murphy and sophomore midfielder Brendan Boss, both earning hat-tricks on the night, finishing with four marks in the goal column.
Point leader on the night was senior captain Ryon Lynch with a balanced night, tallying three goals, accompanied by three assists.
One of Lynch’s goals was scored in dramatic fashion, forcing his defender to fall behind the net after several hard cuts, followed by a wrap-around finish, leaving the ball between the pipes.
“We were just doing our system, running and catching the ball, passing it, the cuts were there and everyone was just getting open and finishing,” junior midfielder Bryce Serriello said.
Murphy’s elusiveness was also showcased first on a one-on-one opportunity against Ranta in the first quarter.
Murphy exaggerated a head fake to a quick stick fake before beating Ranta up top to give the Pride the early 6-0 lead. Murphy’s stick skills struck again for the Pride later in the match-up when he was alone behind the Cougar net.
With one hand on his stick, Murphy leaned hard around the back of the crease just enough to stuff the ball in the left of the net, earning his third goal of the contest.
Springfield’s offensive flurry continued to posses the ball for a majority of the game, taking pressure off of their defense and senior goalkeeper, Connor Nash. The cougars were only able to muster 22 shots, less than half of Springfield’s whopping 49.
Springfield hopes to keep on rolling as they depart to Babson Park, Mass. on Saturday to square off against Babson College in their last regular season game of the 2014 season.
“We’re going to take it to them; it’s going to be the last regular season game, and we’re going to keep doing what we are doing,” Serriello said.
Babson is currently ranked No. 2 in the NEWMAC conference with an unblemished 5-0 conference record, only behind Springfield. Babson is coming off of a 14-6 victory over MIT.
Zach Tolman can be reached at ztolman@springfieldcollege.edu