Men's Lacrosse Earns First-Ever America East Win, Defeats UMass Lowell 14-10

The NJIT men's lacrosse team earned its first victory of the season and first-ever conference win with a 14-10 triumph over the UMass Lowell River Hawks Saturday afternoon at Cushing Field.

"We played an inspired game. The guys played with purpose on the field and our bench was awesome. Offensively, we handled pressure and made the correct plays and defensively, we played a hard physical game. I am extremely happy for this team and all the past alumni who have put the work in for us to get to play and win an America East conference game," head coach Travis Johnson - the program's coach since its inception in 2015 - said after the win.

Sophomore Owen Corry had a banner day for the Highlanders (1-5, 1-3 AE), leading all players with a career-high seven points (5 G, 2 A). Corry's five goals tied teammate Gavyn Willson (Hampton, Feb. 1, 2020) and former Highlander Aaron Forster (No. 5 Rutgers, Mar. 17, 2017) for the third-highest goal scoring performance in NJIT history and his seven points matched alum Ryan Callaghan's effort (3 G, 4 A; at Hampton, April 15, 2017) for fourth-most in Highlander history.

"This was everything we have been working for as a team since we started in the fall. It is huge that our first win of the season is the first conference win in program history, too," Corry added after his performance.

Senior Collin Fogerty added four points (2 G, 2 A) to outpace all players not named Corry on the box score while freshman Logan Hone added three unassisted tallies.

Willson, sophomore Beck Godzenovich, and freshmen Garrett Muscatella and Brendan Geissel each scored a goal while Willson added two assists and freshman Jack Bowie added one.

Defensively, freshman Isaac Vanzomeren snagged a game-high eight ground balls and won 16-of-28 faceoffs, tying former Highlanders Tyler Stevenson (at Siena, Apr. 13, 2019) and Zachary Melillo (UMass Lowell, Mar. 7, 2015) for third-most in NJIT history. Senior Lynch Raby was also active on the defensive side, causing three turnovers. Sophomore Liam Brown was strong in goal, sending away 11 shots and posting a save percentage of .524.

NJIT has taken a circuitous route to get to its first conference win in program history. The seventh-year Division I program played its first five years as an independent and competed in 2020 as an affiliate member of the Northeast Conference. Due to the COVID-19 public health crisis, NJIT's season was shortened before it was slated to play its first-ever conference game against Long Island University on March 14. NJIT then joined the America East Conference as its tenth member on July 1, 2020 and has notched its first league victory in its fourth try.

1ST QUARTER
NJIT and UMass Lowell (1-4, 1-3 AE) played to a 2-2 stalemate after the first 15 minutes of the game, alternating goals in the process. Fogerty gave NJIT the lead first with an assisted score at the 7:21 mark and after a River Hawk goal two minutes later, Bowie connected with Corry to give NJIT a 2-1 lead. UMass Lowell would knot the score again with only 20 seconds left in the period.

2ND QUARTER
The River Hawks' final goal of the first was the start of a three-goal run that kicked off the second and gave the hosts a 4-2 lead by the 8:08 mark of the quarter. NJIT would erase that deficit and then some, going on an 8-0 surge from the 7:17 mark of the second until 3:11 remained in the third. NJIT's scores in the second came from Hone (7:17; 2:54 from Corry, Man-Up), Corry (5:02), Muscatella (4:11), and Willson (1:40 from Fogerty).

3RD QUARTER
Corry got things going for NJIT in the third with the team's first goal (13:33) and an assist on the second by Geissel (8:36). Hone's third and final goal with 3:11 left in the period gave NJIT a commanding 10-4 advantage. UMass Lowell stopped the Highlanders' run with 2:52 to go and sandwiched Corry's goal (2:03) with another score to cut NJIT's lead to five (11-6) heading into the final quarter.

4TH QUARTER
The Highlanders once again went ahead by six goals after Corry's fifth tally with 13:13 left in the game. UMass Lowell made one final strong push, scoring the next three goals in a five-minute span to cut the Highlanders' lead to three (12-9). NJIT closed things out by mirroring UMass Lowell's third quarter, scoring two of the game's final three goals (Fogerty from Willson, 4:53; Gozdenovich, 0:29) to seal the historic victory.

OTHER NOTES

• The win is the team's first since the 2020 season opener against Hampton (24-7, Feb. 1) and its first road win since defeating the Pirates 26-9 on Apr. 6, 2019.
• The victory was also the Highlanders' first in five contests with UMass Lowell, who started its lacrosse program the same year as NJIT and has been a member of the America East since 2013.

NEXT UP
NJIT will complete its two-game road swing with the second half of its home-and-home with Binghamton on Saturday, April 3. Game time is currently scheduled for 1 p.m.