Paxton, MA - The host Anna Maria College men's lacrosse team scored a goal in each period, but it was not enough to stop the Husson University Eagles who used a pair of runs in the second and fourth quarters to cement a 7-4 win at AMCAT field on Tuesday evening. It was a marquee night for the Eagles, as senior attackman Ben Landry (Lewiston, ME) picked up his 200th career point for Husson. He is the first in the young program to achieve that feat, as he is one of the seniors who was part of the initial class.
Landry scored a hat-trick and assisted on another for 4 points on the day to lead the Husson charge. Senior crease-attackman Wayne Stubbs (Keene, NH) also turned in a three-goal game, his second hat-trick in as many games, coming off a four goal performance last time out against St. Joseph's college. Senior midfielder Nick Brown (Ft. Worth, Texas) had a goal and an assist, while defensively, Matt Tabler (Catonsville, MD) stood strong in the back end and picked up a game-high 6 ground balls while also making noise on the offsensive end with an assist as well. Goalkeeper John Hooper III (Wakefield, RI) saved 16 to earn his first win of 2012.
The AMCATS were paced by freshman Joshua Smith (Mendon, MA) who picked up 3 points on two goals and an assist and junior Jason Baker (Billerica, MA) who added two goals and picked up 6 groundballs. Goaltender Andrew Ellis (Fitchburg, MA) had nine saves in the loss.
AMC opened the scoring with an unassisted tally by Smith at the 4:25 mark of the first period and took that lead into the break as both teams came out to play defensively.
Husson's offense clicked in the second stanza as the Eagles scored three goals in less than a minute. It all started with an AMCAT penalty which led to Landry's first, coming with the man-advantage of an assist from Alex Ryan (Northfield, NH). Off the faceoff, Vincent Visconti (North Andover, MA) picked up the ground ball and found Nolan Brown (Waterford, CT) set up down low, and tic-tac passing found Stubbs on the crease and he stuffed it home for the first Husson lead of the day just 30 seconds later. Nick Brown took advantage after another faceoff and scored for a 3-1 lead with 11:00 minutes remaining until the half. Anna Maria closed within one goal on Smith's second goal of the game at 8:54, and the teams went to the locker room with the Eagles up 3-2.
Anna Maria evened the score at 3 apiece just 1:11 into the second half as Baker chipped in with his first goal of the season off an AMCAT fast break.
The Eagles responded with another run, which they kicked off the same as the previous, an extra man opportunity led to a Landry goal, this one coming from an assist by Nick Brown. That put Husson ahead 4-3 with 3:01 left in the third, and they'd never look back.
Just a minute into the fourth quarter, Landry passed it off to Stubbs who beat the goalie for his second of the day. He would complete the hat trick a few minutes later, when an AMC turnover led to Stubbs picking up a ground ball in a good spot and pumping it home to give the Eagles a 6-3 lead. Tabler forced a turnover on the next AMCAT possession, and started the break himself, finding Landry for the score to make it four unanswered by the Eagles. Baker rounded out the game's scoring with 1:22 left in regulation for the 7-4 final.
Husson will stay in Massachusetts as they take on Curry College at 3:30pm on Thursday in Milton before making the return trip to Bangor. Anna Maria returns to action on Saturday when they too take on the Colonels with game time scheduled for noon.
