The UMass Boston’s men’s lacrosse team played their first home game after semi-successful spring break matchups. The Beacons took on the Salem State University Vikings Saturday, March 22, resulting in a season-high 28-10 win for the team.
Last year, the Beacons scored 32 goals against Salem — four goals short of the Division III record for most goals scored in lacrosse. Unlike last season, Salem State had a more well spread out offense this year, but the Beacons still won the majority of their face-offs against the Vikings.
The Beacons started scoring fairly soon: their first goal came from freshman Cole Allan less than two minutes into the match. The first quarter saw a total of 17 goals by different players, with junior Matt Hutchings netting the majority of them.
Junior Matthew Konareski scored four goals throughout the game, marking his personal season high. He said the game was “A nice way to start the conference. I just transferred in, and I love the team and the coaching staff. Salem State was fun to play with; they are right up the street and they have really cool uniforms.”
The Beacons started the second quarter offensively, and Salem State could barely keep up. The Vikings finally made a breakthrough and opened the score board, and three minutes later, they managed to sneak another goal past sophomore goalkeeper James Boldy. The second quarter ended 21-2 for the Beacons.
Junior Duncan Youngclaus opened the second half, followed by sophomore Dale Wills, increasing the Beacons’ lead to 23-2. Adrian Fielosh netted another goal, while Konareski completed his four-goal run, ending the third quarter with a 26-3 advantage.
Hutchings said, “I scored a couple goals at a couple different games, but it was definitely different in a conference play … I think the loss against DePauw really waked us up. I think we bounced back a bit.”
In the final quarter, freshman Joseph McCullough scored his first collegiate goal, and senior Timothy Sullivan completed his hat trick. He was followed by Fielosh, who completed his first ever career hat trick and concluded the match, securing a 28-10 victory for the Beacons.
Said McCullough, “It was great, had a lot of fun playing out there. My first goal — that was pretty big for me, confident booster. It was really fun to play against Salem. It was a collective group win.
