Second Half Surge Pushes Men's Lacrosse Past Mass. Maritime

BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Ben Coakley (Flemington, N.J.) recorded 10 points on seven goals and three assists, all during a 15-4 run, as the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team (3-0) picked up a 17-10 win over Mass. Maritime (0-1) on Wednesday night.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

SHOTS:  WIT 43; MMA 55
GROUND BALLS:  WIT 42; MMA 37
FACE-OFFS WON:  WIT 13; MMA 16
PENALTIES/MINUTES:  WIT 4/3:00; MMA 6/4:00
EXTRA-MAN OPPS:  WIT 1-5; MMA 1-4
GOALIE SAVES:  WIT Jack Munroe, 24; MMA, Matthew Pierson, 11
WIT GOAL LEADERS:  Ben Coakley, 7; Erik Madden, 4
WIT ASSIST LEADERS:  Ben Coakley, 3; Erik Madden, 3

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Mass. Maritime struck first on a goal from senior Benjamin Avakian (Bourne, Mass.) 3:02 into the contest. The Buccaneers held the one-goal lead until strikes from junior Andrew DiPalma (West Orange, N.J.) and sophomore Erik Madden (Center Tuftonboro, N.H.) 1:18 apart gave Wentworth a 2-1 lead after one quarter.
• The Buccaneers scored four straight with two coming from freshman Mitchell Maida (Burlington, Mass.) and took a 5-2 lead with 7:13 left in the half. Coakley scored with 5:41 left in the half, and, on the ensuing faceoff, junior Tom Rockwell (Andover, Mass.) won the draw, picked up the ground ball and fed Coakley seven seconds later to make it 5-4.
• Madden and junior Steven Russman (Troy, N.Y.) scored 37 seconds apart early in the third quarter to give the hosts a 6-5 lead and DiPalma followed to make it 7-5 with 11:21 left. Avakian ended the 5-0 run with his second of the game, however, Wentworth used an 8-1 run to break the game open with Coakley scoring three times and adding three assists to give the Leopards a 15-7 lead.
• After Mass. Maritime scored twice in a 25-second span, Coakley found the back of the net two more times.
• In addition to Coakley's 10 points, Madden had seven points coming on four goals and three assists while DiPalma had two goals and two assists and senior Kyle Doner (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) added two goals and an assist.
• Junior Danny Bartosiewicz (North Grafton, Mass.) scooped up 10 ground balls and caused three turnovers.
• Avakian finished with three goals and an assist for Mass. Maritime with Maida scoring twice and assisting on two others. Sophomore Colby Unterstein (Ellington, Conn.) was 16-of-28 at the X and scooped up 12 ground balls.
• Sophomore Jack Munroe (Mansfield, Mass.) made a career-high 24 saves while senior Matthew Pierson (Longmeadow, Mass.) made 11 stops. Mass. Maritime had a 55-42 shot advantage while Wentworth had the edge in ground balls, 42-37.

OF NOTE:

• Wentworth starts 3-0 of the third time in the last four seasons.

SERIES NOTES:

• Tonight marked the 20th meeting between the two programs, however, the first since the 2015 campaign. Wentworth leads 15-5 and has won the last eight meetings.

NEXT UP:

• Wentworth will play two games in Georgia during spring break, beginning with a tilt at Piedmont on Sunday night.

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