WESTON, Mass. - Johnson State men's lacrosse saw host Regis College (Mass.) pull away in the fourth period and earn a 15-7 non-conference victory on Tuesday. The loss drops the Badgers to 1-4, 0-2 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) while the Pride improve to 3-6 overall, 0-1 Pilgrim League.
Johnson senior Alex Petti (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) (pictured) scored six of the Badgers seven goals on the day while classmate Justin Nelson (Lakeville, Mass./Bishop Connolly) added a score. Freshman Nash Garceau (North Haven, Conn./North Haven) dealt out four assists for JSC and picked up a team-high six groundballs.
Goalkeeper Zach Jerome (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) was busy throughout the contest making a career-high 23 saves for Johnson.
Regis' balanced scoring attack was led by Chris Campbell and Chris Costello who recorded three scores a piece while Matt Malloy and Andrew Haddon both scored two goals. Andrew Goldberg, who also had an assist, tallied a game-high nine groundballs for the Pride.
Regis goalie Breandan Crane relieved Haddon and played the final 51:20 making nine stops and earning the winning decision.
Johnson struck first with Petti scoring a pair of goals a minute a part in the back end of the first period to thrust JSC to a 2-0 lead where the score would remain entering the second period. The Pride would explode for six consecutive scores over the first nine minutes of the second stanza to surge to a 6-2 advantage.
The final four minutes of the period was owned by JSC and Petti as the senior scored two man-up goals and added a third score just before the half to make the score 6-5 Regis at the mid-point of the contest.
Petti would notch his six score of the game four minutes into the third period to knot the game at 6-6 and set the table for an exciting finish. But Regis had other ideas scoring twice in the third and then rattling off five more to open the fourth to take a comfortable 13-6 lead and all but seal it.
Nelson would stop the run with an unassisted score with 4:33 left in the game but it was too little, too late as Regis tacked on two more scores en route to the 15-7 final.
Regis would earn a 58-26 shot advantage on the day and top the Badgers in groundballs to the tune of 59-35.
Johnson will move on to play a pair on NAC road contests this weekend with tilt at Maine Maritime Academy on Friday and then playing at Husson University on Saturday. Regis will return to action on Thursday for a Pilgrim League contest with Wheaton College.