WALTHAM, Mass. - Junior Gregory Lazarus (Evanston, Ill.) scored three goals, including the game-winner, for the Purple Knights to lead Saint Michael's to an 8-6 win over the Bentley men's lacrosse team on a rainy Tuesday night in Northeast-10 Conference action. The Falcons fell to 3-6 (2-4 NE-10), while the Purple Knights, ranked fifth in the North Region in the latest NCAA rankings, improved to 7-5 (6-2 NE-10).

Saint Michael's opened with the first four goals of the game and held off Bentley for the rest of the night. Lazarus got the Purple Knights on the board first five minutes into the game before sophomore Bryan Zaremba (Manhasset, N.Y.) scored twice before the opening frame expired.

Freshman Brian DiPisa (Medfield) added another goal for Saint Michael's before sophomore Andy Curtis (Chelmsford/Chelmsford HS) broke through for the Falcons with an unassisted tally midway through the second quarter. The Purple Knights answered with a pair of goals from junior Mike Ferrarone (South Salem, N.Y.) and sophomore Jake Previte (Cohasset), but Bentley struck before halftime with a pair of goals 18 seconds apart from senior Dalton Van Hatcher (Tigard, Ore./Oregon Episcopal School) and Curtis to cut the lead to 6-3 at the half.

The Falcons were able to get back within two goals in the second half when sophomore Chris Woods (Duxbury/Sandwich HS) opened the third quarter with his team-leading 14th goal of the season, continuing his streak of scoring in each of the first nine games of the season. Lazarus kept Saint Michael's on top, scoring the eventual game-winner less than a minute after Woods' tally and adding a man-up goal later in the third to counter two man-up goals from freshman Kevin Gould (Duxbury/Duxbury HS) in the last two quarters.

Saint Michael's outshot Bentley by a 30-27 margin and held a 36-30 advantage in ground balls, while the two squads split the face-off battle. Sophomore Zach Gostanian (Andover/Andover HS) made eight saves between the pipes for Bentley, but was countered by junior Jeff Hannon (Wilbraham), who also turned away eight shots to earn the win for the Purple Knights.

The Falcons return to action on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when they travel to Pleasantville, N.Y., to take on No. 9 Pace before returning home on Wednesday, April 25, to host Southern New Hampshire in the regular season home finale at 7:00 p.m.

2007-04-18