Men's Lacrosse stands strong in tight loss against Assumption
SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College overcame an early deficit before falling 10-8 to Assumption University in its Northeast-10 Conference opener on Saturday, March 16.
AIC is now 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the NE10.
The Yellow Jackets took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 early in the first on goals by Carter Linkletter and Micaiah Boyle that were assisted by Devon Walker and Tyler Goode, respectively, but a three-goal run by the Greyhounds had the visitors up 4-2 after one.
Both of the second quarter's goals came in the first three minutes, with AIC's coming from Dawson Long on a Ryder Goodwin feed. The defenses buckled down from there and the score was 5-3 Assumption heading into the break.
AIC picked up the pressure in the third, and after an early goal trade between AIC's Jack Bamford and Assumption's Ryan Theriault, Dawson Long and Devon Walker scored to tie the contest 6-6. Jacob Ligor and Goode earned assists on the respective tallies, and Goode also assisted Bamford's early goal.
With the decisive final quarter looming, Assumption scored two quick strikes to go ahead 8-6. AIC countered, as Linkletter fed Long on a rush play to cut the gap to 8-7 and Goode found Seven Gillingham open to tie things 8-8 with 9:36 remaining. The Greyhounds were able to keep AIC off the board from there, however, and scored twice for the 10-8 win.
Long's hat trick gave him a team-best 22 goals on the year, while Goode now has a team-high 22 assists and 28 points. Ries Bower forced seven turnovers to get to 27 on the season.
In goal, Shaden Shields had an astounding day; he stopped 27 chances.
AIC continues NE10 play at No. 5 Adelphi University on Wednesday, March 20 at 7:00 p.m.