Plymouth, NH- The PSU Men’s Lacrosse team stayed alive in the playoffs another day, with a 17-11 quarter-final win against UMass Boston. The loss ends UMB’s season at 6-12, but allows the 9-4 Panthers to move on to a semi-final matchup against top seeded Keene State.
Plymouth State got off to a hot start immediately when Junior attack Chris Annunciata (Waltham, Ma) scored in the first six seconds of the game. After UMass scored an unassisted goal, PSU Junior Brett Miller (Windham, NH) delivered a solid pass leading to a quick score by Shawn McEvoy (Spring, Texas). Two more UMass goals would come, but the quarter would end when Ty Long (Dover, NH) found the back of the net for another PSU goal making the score 3-3 at the end of one.
The second quarter would be dominated by PSU as they outscored UMass 5-2. Plymouth State’s Chris Annunciata and Freshman Harrison Keithly (South Portland, Maine) each had two goals in the quarter, while Senior Ty Long scored his second of the day. The score stood at 8-5 going into halftime, in favor of the Panthers.
Plymouth capitalized on many weaknesses of the opposing team, especially in the third quarter. After a quick UMass goal, PSU put the ball in the net four times in a four minute span. UMass would score one more in the third, but Plymouth was not finished. Sophomore Nick Morello (N. Billerica, Ma) dropped three goals in a row for the Panthers, right before Junior Chris Annunciata could have his team-leading fifth goal of the night. At the end of three Plymouth was on top of UMB 16-7.
At the start of the fourth Ty Long scored another unassisted goal to put PSU up by a solid ten points. A late game rally by UMass would allow them to score four more goals in the quarter, but it would prove to be too little too late. Plymouth would end the game with a huge 17-11 win.
PSU showed strength from the beginning with some very nice face-off play. Junior Scott Giusti (West Newton, Ma) captured 16 of 17 face-offs while Senior Devon Smith (Plattekill, NY) went 10-14. Junior starting Goaltender Jesse Kutz (Hopkington, Ma) had another solid day making five saves and delivering the win for the Panthers.