LAX Drops Season Opener at Anna Maria

PAXTON, Mass.  – The Mitchell College men's lacrosse team opened the 2010 season with a 14-6 loss at Anna Maria College on Wednesday evening at AMCAT Field.

Junior Luke Biggins led all players with eight points and 17 ground balls to help lift the Anna Maria to its first victory of the season. The win came in the AMCATS’ home opener and improved their season record to 1-2, while the Mariners dropped to 0-1 on the year.

Biggins paced AMC with five goals and three assists, while also winning 16 of 20 face-offs. Sophomore Mike Saulnier and freshman Nikolas Langlois chipped in with four and three goals, respectively, while freshman Rodrigo Henriques added three assists in the win. Freshman Andrew Ellis made six saves on the night, earning the win in net for the AMCATS and evening his record to 1-1 on the year.

Junior Patrick Nielsen and sophomore Adam Grillo led the Mariners with two goals apiece, while sophomore Aharon Wall added a goal and an assist in the loss. Sophomore goalkeeper Joseph Nott did his best to keep the Mariners in the game, making an impressive 23 saves during the match, including 10 in the third quarter alone.

Anna Maria got on the board first when Langlois took a feed from Biggins and beat the Mariners’ goalie to give AMC the 1-0 advantage after one quarter of play.

Mitchell took advantage of an extra-man opportunity and evened the score at the 10:58 mark of the second quarter, as Nielsen found the back of the net for an unassisted tally.

The AMCATS responded with three unanswered goals in under three minutes of play, including two by Biggins and one from Saulnier.

After a Mitchell goal from Grillo, the AMCATS answered back with a score by Nikolas Langlois off a nice feed from Rodrigo Henriques with just 39 seconds remaining in the half.

The AMCATS stormed out of the gates in the second half, scoring six unanswered goals to build a commanding 11-2 lead. Mitchell tried to rally back by scoring four of the next six goals, cutting the AMC lead to seven, but eventually ran out of time.

The AMCATS held significant advantages in shots (59-17), face-offs (17-22), and ground balls (68-42) during the contest.

The Mariners won’t play again until Sunday, March 21 when they host Lyndon State College at 2:00 p.m.