Men's Lacrosse Drops Overtime Game At No. 4 Yale, 12-11

Trainor led the UMass offense with four points, Sconone made 14 stops in net

  NEW HAVEN, Conn. - University of Massachusetts Men's Lacrosse started strong at No. 4 nationally-ranked Yale, and fought back and forth into overtime before the Bulldogs secured a 12-11 win over the Minutemen at Reese Stadium on Saturday.

Junior midfielder Jeff Trainor led the UMass offense with four points, highlighted by a hat trick which included the final two UMass goals of the fourth quarter with 41 and 0.4 seconds remaining to force overtime.

Yale found the back of the net with 54 seconds remaining in the first overtime period for the win. Matt Gaudet's third score of the day sealed the game for the Bulldogs. Gaudet led the Bulldogs in scoring with three goals to go along one assist and Jackson Morril accounted for five points behind four assists and a goal.
  Sean Sconone made 14 saves, nine of which came in the first half, helping kill four man-down situations in the process. Senior close defenseman Isaac Paparo notched three caused turnovers and two groundballs in front of Sconone, while redshirt senior long-stick midfielder Mike Elcock also notched three caused turnovers and grabbed four groundballs.

Senior midfielder Ben Spencer returned from a one-game absence due to injury and scored the first two goals of the game before Trainor tallied his first of the afternoon to put UMass up 3-0 five-and-a-half minutes into the game before Gaudet stop the run.

Redshirt junior two-way midfielder Billy Philpott scored with 66 seconds to go in the first quarter and again less than a minute into the second quarter to put UMass up 5-1; however, the early lead dwindled as Yale converted seven of the next 10 tallies, including five straight.

Yale converted for two more goals in the second quarter, sandwiched around a Devin Spencer tally, which cut it to 6-3 in favor of the Gorillas at the end of the half.

After Massachusetts opened the third with goals from Scott Del Zotto and Devin Spencer, Yale went on its five-straight run, and earned eight of the next nine goals, for its first lead of the game with 6:06 left in regulation.

Yale's defense limited Massachusetts during a 20-minute segment, which spanned the third and fourth quarters, with only Gabriel Procyk's man-up tally to show for the Minutemen. Facing a two-goal deficit into the final minute of the fourth, Trainor worked through the Bulldogs' defense and forced the extra time with back-to-back tallies.

The Billerica, Massachusetts, native struck at the 41-second mark and, after Tom Meyers won the ensuing faceoff, Trainor muscled his way to the cage again and tied the game at 11 with a play at the crease with 0.4 left on the scoreboard.

Massachusetts had a man-up chance during overtime but were unable to convert on their offensive chance before Gaudet totaled his third goal of the game for the Yale win.

The Maroon and White return to action with a road trip to Albany on Tues., March 5. First faceoff in Albany, New York, is scheduled for 5 p.m.