Brown Men’s Lacrosse Opens Season with Home Win

The Brown Bears (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) opened the 2022 season with a 19-13 win, powered by a 9-3 second quarter, over the Quinnipiac Bobcats (1-2, 0-0 MAAC) Saturday afternoon at Stevenson-Pincince Field.

“It was a little frustrating at times today; when you’re playing at our speed and tempo good things happen. We found some separation in the quarter playing at our speed offensively and defensively,” said head coach Mike Daly. “We’re proud of the fact that we played a game last year, the only Ivy team to do so at the Division I level, it’s great to be out here, but like I said, we have a lot to clean up and a lot to get better at.”

Steven Germain opened the scoring 35 seconds into the first quarter, tallying the quick goal following Quinnipiac’s opening faceoff win. From there, Brown and Quinnipiac traded two-goal runs with Brown’s Ryan Aughavin and Darian Cook scoring 25 seconds apart in the last minute to give the Bears a 4-3 break at the end of the opening quarter.

Brown opened the second quarter with five straight goals, including three from Devon McLane – two of which came man-up, to push their lead to 9-3. After Owen Murray broke the Brown scoring run, the Bears outscored the Bobcats 4-3 through the rest of the first half with Brian Antonelli burying his first career goal on Quinnipiac goalie Nick DiMuccio (19 saves) with 1:29 remaining.

Matthew Gunty led the Bears in the lopsided quarter, winning 11-of-12 faceoffs against Demetri George in the quarter, who entered the nation fifth in the NCAA in faceoff percentage. Gunty finished the game with career-highs in faceoffs won (20), faceoffs taken (31), and ground balls (10).

Connor Theriault (12 saves) replaced Cameron Fiore (5 saves) between the pipes to start the second half and recorded 10 third quarter saves help the Bears win the quarter, 3-2, for a 16-8 lead entering the final 15 minutes.

“Connor came in, did a great job, and really provided the [spark] that we needed,” Daly added.

The snow, which fell during warm-ups but stopped early in the first quarter, gained momentum through the fourth quarter. The Bears saw goals from Trevor Yeboah-Kodie, McLane, and Logan Paff to take a 19-10 lead with 3:31 remaining. From there, the Bobcats tallied three goals to push the score to 19-13.

GAME NOTES
Cook recorded four goals and four assists for eight points in the season-opener, setting career-highs in assists and points.
McLane, who scored in Brown’s lone game of 2021 at Boston University, shattered his previous career-best with five goals, 12 shots, and seven shots on goal.
In total, 12 Bears found the scoresheet with six Bears finishing with multiple points.
Brown held the advantage in shots (51-46), ground balls (27-21), and faceoffs (20-16). Both teams finished with 30 shots on goal. Quinnipiac had 11 turnovers to Brown’s 10.
The Bears finished 3-for-5 on EMO chances with the Bobcats finishing 0-for-7.
Brown heads to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to take on the fifth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels (2-1, 0-0 ACC) Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. On Saturday (Feb. 26), Brown hosts Vermont (1-2, 0-0 AE) at noon at Stevenson-Pincince Field. Click here to purchase tickets.