AMCATS Lose Conference Opener to Wildcats

AMCATS Lose Conference Opener to Wildcats

PAXTON, Mass – Wednesday night marked the start of the Great Northeast Athletic conference portion of the Anna Maria men's lacrosse schedule. They opened against 1-7 Johnson & Wales and while the game started off going AMC's way, it didn't end that way as they fell, 14-8, to the Wildcats.

The AMCATS were once again led on the attack by Brandon Pavoni who netted four goals and assisted on another. His four goals was tied for the game-high. Freshman, Colton Layman, who had missed some time due to injury was back on the field Wednesday and scored a goal on just one shot attempt. The other three Anna Maria goals were scored by Brady Seymour, Ryan Rockwal, and Andrew Marcotte. Seymour also assisted on a goal in the game. Jacob Smith and Jake Klemba each assisted on a goal for AMC. Goalie Paul Schwarz faced 40 shots in the game and saved 26 of them.

Johnson & Wales got a game-high four goals from Brad Ketz who also had an assist. Ben Farrell netted three for the visitors on a game high 17 shots, 13 on target. With two goals apiece in the game were Maxwell Morris and Sam Sears, Sears also had a game high five assists. The other three unaccounted for goals were scored by Eric Russo, Jacob deMey, and Matthew Hart. Goalie Bradley Morris faced 20 shots in the game and saved 12 of them.

The game couldn't have started off any better for the AMCATS. With five minutes left in the period they saw themselves up 4-0 after goals from Pavoni, Marcotte, Seymour and another from Pavoni. After that, it seemed like the momentum has switched and wasn't coming back. The Wildcats got a man-up goal from Kets at 3:40 and then again at 1:29 to pull JWU within two goals, 4-2, at the end of the first quarter.

In the second, the Wildcats got another from Kets two and a half minutes in, and then from Farrell tio tie the game at four apiece. Johnson & Wales weren't done there with deMey, Kets and Hart netting three more goals, sending the Wildcats on a seven goal unanswered run and there were still seven minutes to play in the half. The AMCATS were able to get back within one a few minutes later with two more goals from Pavoni. Then, after a JWU timeout with four seconds on the clock, Morris netted a goal for the Wildcats with 0.2 second left on the clock to give his team a two-goal, 8-6 lead, at the half.

The Third quarter was relatively quiet compared to the first two. JWU scored two, making it three unanswered going back to the second, as Sears scored both, one in a man-up situation. Rockwall struck for the 'Cats with four minutes left on the clock, scoring a man-up goal to get within three of the visitors. Russo then scored for JWU 20 seconds later to go up 11-7. That lead and score would be carried in to the fourth by the Wildcats.

After having that 4-0 lead to begin the game, the AMCATS did everything they could to stay in the game but the Wildcat attack was too much and the defense was stingy. In the fourth, Johnson and Wales netted three more goals, the first by Farrell at the 7:46 mark of the period. Anna Maria mixed one in as Layman scored his only goal, first after returning from injury, which made the score 12-8. But again, JWU scored those other two goals, first Morris with 4:40 left and then Farrell again with :50 left on the clock. The wildcats controlled the clock for the last minute and ran it out to hand the AMCATS a conference loss, 14-8 at home.

The AMCATS will be back on AMCAT Field on Saturday, March 31st at 5pm taking on Lasell College.