By: Chris Dacey
Follow @ChrisDacey
Sunday was an exciting day for the Quinnipiac men’s lacrosse team, as it played its first true home game since the 2016 season because of the construction of Quinnipiac’s new stadium.
The opening lacrosse game for the stadium turned out to be an exciting one, but in the end the Bobcats left disappointed.
UMass Lowell came into Hamden and beat Quinnipiac in the pouring rain by a score of 13-12 in an overtime thriller.
“I thought we played pretty well up until the fourth quarter,” head coach Eric Fekete said. “We let the game get close and we got rattled.”
The game-winning goal by UMass Lowell’s Jon Phillips capped off a comeback. The Quinnipiac lead was as large as five goals at one point.
Two big turnovers by senior goaltender Carson Cocco right in front of his own net lead to two easy goals for the River Hawks. Both goals were scored by Sean Tyrrell.
“[Cocco] has got to be better,” Fekete said. “The turnovers on the clearing game, he gave two turnovers right in front of the net. It is a team game but is substandard for him.”
Cocco has the hard task of replacing Jack Brust from last season. Brust led the Bobcats to a MAAC Championship and an NCAA Tournament win in the 2016 season. Cocco finished the game with 13 saves; a good performance, but not enough.
Those two turnovers added to the 19 total the Bobcats had throughout the contest. Quinnipiac was also out shot 36-30 and had less ground balls than UMass.
The Bobcats are not making any excuses, even the pouring rain that was pounding the field for pretty much the entire game.
“We have been playing in cruddy weather all year,” freshman Jake Tomsik said. “It has nothing to do with it.”
Tomsik was disappointed with the loss but the freshman had an outstanding Quinnipiac debut.
He had four goals and one assist in his first game. But at the end of the day, he was more worried about the loss and not his own stats.
“We lost so, that’s really all I got to say,” Tomsik said. “I’m happy with my performance I guess but I had two or three turnovers that could have been two or three goals.”
The Bobcats are coming off a 2017 season where they did not see a conference win after winning the MAAC the year prior. The Bobcats did have to travel everywhere, whether it be games at Yale or practices at Cheshire Academy, but Fekete didn’t use that as an excuse last season.
The loss on Sunday was a tough one, but it will not get any easier for Quinnipiac because Ivy League power house Brown is coming to Hamden on Saturday. Last season, Quinnipiac traveled to play Brown and it didn’t go so well, as that game ended in a 25-9 Brown win.
“We need to stay disciplined, keep the momentum shifts to a minimum and just do our thing,” Tomsik said regarding Brown. “Stay in our own lane and play our brand of lacrosse.”
