Contact: Ben Badua
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Buoyed by a five-goal second half run and a career-high 20 saves from goalie Greg Majno '14, the 18th-ranked Amherst men's lacrosse team earned a hard-fought 13-12 victory over No. 13 Springfield College in non-conference action on Stagg Field.
Trailing 8-5 and 9-8 in the third, Amherst reeled off a 5-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to improve to 10-3 (5-3 NESCAC) on the season. Suffering its first setback in four outings, Springfield fell to 9-3 overall with the loss.
Jumping out to an early lead, Amherst held a 2-1 advantage after the first 15 minutes thanks to goals from Devin Acton '14 and Kane Haffey '16. Continuing to apply pressure, the Jeffs notched the first two scores of the second period with Aaron Mathias '14 and Michael Litner '16 finding the back of the net at 12:06 and 11:32, respectively.
Battling back, Springfield rattled off three scores from Brendan Boss '16, Dom Roberto '14 and Kevin Freeman '14 in a span of just 2:21. Approaching the five-minute mark, Matt Killian '17 momentarily stemmed the tide, but three more Pride tallies in the last 1:15 of the frame gave the home team a 7-5 edge at the intermission.
Extending the lead coming out of the break, Dylan Sheehan '15 made it a three-goal game with a score at 10:09. Roaring back, Amherst netted the game's next three markers. Patrick Moroney '14 got things started by finding the back of the net just 50 seconds after Sheehan's score before Dylan Park '16 and Acton recorded consecutive tallies to pull the Purple & White even.
Bryce Serriello '15 broke the deadlock with a goal at the 4:35 mark of the third, but the Jeffs reeled off five unanswered scores to build a four-point cushion. Park, Patrick Moroney and Mathias once again beat Pride goalie Connor Nash '14 during the stretch run, while Haffey accounted for the other two Amherst goals. Quinn Moroney '16 assisted on four-consecutive scores during the rally.
Kick-starting a Springfield comeback, Sheehan registered his third of the night with 9:16 remaining in regulation. Two minutes later, Freeman scored before Serriello suddenly made it a one-goal game with 3:08 on the clock. Gaining possession inside of the 30-second mark, Devin Abad had a chance to tie it, but the junior midfielder's shot veered wide as Amherst held on to the victory.
Recording a pair of goals, Acton upped his career total to 156. Having also dished out 42 career assists, the senior now stands just two points shy of becoming the program's first 200-point scorer since Derek Cherney '07 (204).
Handing out six more assists, Quinn Moroney now has 75 points on the year (21 G, 54 A), the highest total in the Jeffs' modern era since Cherney posted 68 points during the 2005 campaign. In the midst of a prolific season, the sophomore standout currently leads the nation in assists per game, while ranking fourth in the country in points per contest.
Sheehan paced Springfield with three scores, while Freeman and Serriello each had two markers. Nash finished with six saves as the Pride held a decisive 57-31 edge in shots.
Amherst returns to action on Friday, Apr. 18 against archrival Williams on Pratt Field at 6 p.m.