The Rams outscored their opponents 35-11 in a pair of home wins this week. PHOTO CREDIT: @rhodylax on Instagram
The University of Rhode Island Club Lacrosse team was sure to remind everyone why they are the number one Division II team in the Continental Lacrosse Conference (CLC) this past week with wins over Stonehill University and Central Connecticut State University.
The Rams started on Thursday night, when they hosted Stonehill in their first inter-divisional game of the season.
The game began at a steady but sloped pace, as neither team was able to tally any goals for the first four minutes of the game, but Rhode Island certainly controlled the pace of play.
However, 4:03 into the first quarter, fourth-year Anthony Guarino opened the scoring with a goal right in front of the cage. This opened the floodgates to a dominant first quarter from the Rams.
Just 28 seconds later, third-year Ian Schermerhorn joined in the scoring with a goal of his own. This began to snowball with six more goals from second-year John Cantilli, third-year Adrian Rutkowski, second-year Patrick Grover, a pair from third-year Keegan Reilly, and another from Guarino, totaling to a score of 8-0 after the first quarter.
The second quarter saw more offensive action from URI, as Davis Lee opened up the second quarter scoring with a goal on his 19th birthday.
“[scoring felt] pretty great, it’s a pretty good way to spend my birthday, I’d say,” Lee said after the game.
However, the goals did not end there. first-year Ty Brown, Guarino and first-year Zach Petit all found the back of the net throughout the quarter until Stonehill’s Liam Coneely finally halted URI’s 12-0 run with a goal of his own just before the first half expired. Rhode Island led after 30 minutes with a 12-1 lead.
The second half was more even throughout, as URI traded goals with Stonehill throughout the third quarter. second-year Matt Walsh and Brown added two goals to the total to open up the third quarter before Stonehill responded with two of their own.
First-year Neil MacGillivray’s goal with 3:57 left in the 3rd quarter gave Rhode Island a 15-3 lead, but Stonehill found the back of the net in the final minute of the quarter making the score 15-4.
Stonehill even struck first in the fourth quarter, but three subsequent URI goals from Guarino, second-year Sean Clark and MacGillivray put the final nails in the coffin, securing a 18-5 victory.
After the game, captain Ian Schermerhorn spoke about how far he thinks this team could go.
“We want to be champions, that’s the goal, that’s been the goal,” Schermerhorn said. “We don’t want to be the best in Rhode Island, we don’t want to be the best in New England, we want to be the best in the country. That’s what we’re gonna go get.”
Assistant coach and former player Charlie White also spoke postgame on how the team is coming together now into the middle of the season.
“I feel like they are definitely getting more involved with each other and getting more used to playing with each other which is good,” White said. “We’ve got to keep going here though, we had a couple of rough spots in that game, and we have a lot of things to improve on.”
Rhode Island then had to continue this win into another game against Central Connecticut on Sunday.
The Rams’ piled on the goals in this one, collecting five in the first quarter. second-year Patrick Grover opened the scoring before Guarino slung two in back to back. second-year Kennedy Heath then scored back to back goals of his own to close out the quarter.
The second quarter was more of the same, as URI continued to score and CCSU fell further behind. Lee opened the scoring in this quarter and Heath collected his third goal after that. Heath then assisted a goal to Grover and the half was concluded by a goal from Reilly. URI led after the first half with nine goals.
The second half continued the shutout narrative with a pair of Guarino goals to summarize the third quarter. Reilly, Schermerhorn, Guarino, Ratkowski and a pair of goals from Heath brought the URI tally to 17 with time expiring, as URI moved their total record to 8-1 with the 17-6 victory.
The team is back in action when they travel to New Haven to take on Southern Connecticut State University on Sunday.