The University of Rhode Island men’s club lacrosse team improved their spring 2024 record to 5-0 after defeating Southern Connecticut State University 24-0 on Saturday.
In what was the fourth game URI played against a Continental Lacrosse Conference Division II opponent, the Rams cruised past the 1-6 Owls to earn their first shutout of the season. They have outscored their opponents 89-14.
Whether it was from far out or just a foot away from the goal, the Rams found several ways to score in this one.There were 11 different URI scorers, led by third-year attackman Sean Clark who had five goals. First-year midfielder Ethan Pezzullo and second-year attackman Zach Pettit combined for seven goals.
In the first quarter alone, Rhody took a commanding 10-0 lead. This would be their highest scoring quarter in the game, as they followed up with an eight-goal second quarter, two-goal third quarter and four-goal fourth quarter.
Second-year goalkeeper Casey Lorusso of SCSU stopped five shots and gave up six goals while his teammate, third-year goalkeeper Connor Erickson, stopped eight shots and gave up 18 goals.
The Rams won a total of 26 face-offs between second-year face off specialist Jack Benedict and first-year defensive midfielder Benjamin Ptaszek.
Leading the team in assists were third-year midfielder John Cantilli and first-year attackman Wil Bankowski, each with three. Cantilli also had a hat-trick in the contest, giving him six points on the day, only second to Clark’s seven.
URI and SCSU’s ground balls were relatively even, with Rhody notching 28 and the Owls notching 31.
”Offensively, we turn the ball over a little too much and defensively we let them get the ball too many times,” URI Head Coach Charlie White said. “It was a good game overall, but there’s still things we can improve on every single game, so we’ll go back to the drawing board this week.”
There was one specific aspect of the game that White noticed his team could improve upon.
”I think we didn’t do great on the ride today, but we’ve been having really good success this year on the ride,” White said. “They cleared it decently well against us and we had a lot of opportunities that we missed.”
Fourth-year Sam DeRotto, one of three captains on the roster, added his input on what the team can improve on.
“We need a lot more communication on the field,” DeRotto said. “We’re all getting really close as a group, but I still think we need to get that communication going. There’s a lot of work to improve on, but there’s also a lot of games left.”
Despite the success against SCSU, the Rams are intent on sticking to their game throughout the rest of the season.
”We don’t really look at the opponent ahead of games, we just try to do what we work on in practice,” DeRotto said.
The Rams will look to remain unbeaten as they host Division I opponent University of Connecticut on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Meade Stadium.