Box Score WALTHAM, Mass. – Freshman Matt Brooks (Brunswick, Maine/Phillips Exeter) scored with 50 seconds left to break a nine-all tie to lift the Bentley men's lacrosse team past Saint Michael's 10-9 on a rainy Tuesday night.
The Falcons trailed 6-2 at halftime, and 7-2 after an early third quarter man-up goal by the Purple Knights, but Bentley outscored them 8-2 over the final 25-plus minutes.
On the go-ahead goal, Alex Astarita (Bedford, N.H./Bishop Guertin) had the ball behind the cage, and fed Brooks as he cut in on goal, who then beat Saint Michael's goalie Matt Hanley up top to put the Falcons in front 10-9.
Astarita previously scored the tying goal in a man-up situation with 4:29 left in the 4th quarter, with Sam Hurley (Medfield, Mass./Medfield) on the assist.
After Brooks' go-ahead goal, Saint Michael's won the ensuring face-off. After a timeout with 30 seconds left, the Knights got a shot off from Tom Fitzgerald that was saved by goalie Robert Hamerman (Manhasset, N.Y./Manhasset) with seven seconds left. Defender Jack Taddeo (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield) then secured the ground ball to run out the clock.
Bentley trailed 8-4 with just over a minute left in the 3rd quarter, but scored twice in quick succession to set the stage for the 4th quarter. Junior Joe DiRaimo (Huntington, N.Y./John Glenn) scored at 1:35, with Matt Sanford (Stratham, N.H./Bow) on the assist, followed by a goal from John Wheeler (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough) just 31 seconds later.
A goal by Astarita 1:04 in the 4th quarter got the Falcons to within 8-7. More than seven minutes elapsed before the next goal was scored, by Saint Michael's Brian Loughlin at 6:10. But Bentley responded quickly, as Sanford found the back of the net at 5:12 to make it a 9-8 game, which was followed by Astarita's tying goal at 4:29.
Hamerman picked up the win in goal for Bentley, while Max Adler (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Northfield Mt. Hermon) went 16-21 in the face-off circle with 11 ground balls. He went 9-12 in the 2nd half alone.
The win improved Bentley's record to 6-6 overall and 5-5 in the Northeast-10. They'll play the final game of the regular season on Saturday at No. 4 ranked Le Moyne.
