Gates, Rooney lead Seahawks past Vikings, 7-3

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. - Juniors Evan Gates (Ridge, N.J.) and Brendan Rooney (West Newton, Mass.) each scored two goals to lead the Salve Regina University men's lacrosse team to a 7-3 win over Salem State College in non-conference action Thursday afternoon at Gaudet Field.

Sophomore Chris Walker (Marshfield, Mass.) dished out four assists for the Seahawks, who evened their record at 3-3 on the season. Senior Michael Carpenito (Leominster, Mass.) tallied two goals and an assist for the Vikings, who slipped to 2-2.

Rooney's 12th goal of the season just 1:46 into the contest gave the Seahawks a 1-0 lead, and Gates' first marker of the game and third of the season at 8:20 pushed the lead to 2-0 after one period of play.

In the second, Gates potted his second of the afternoon at 14:43 to put SRU in front 3-0. A pair of goals by Carpenito at 8:30 and 5:15 brought the Vikings to within a goal at 3-2, but Rooney's 13th of the season and first man-up goal in 2010 gave the Seahawks a two-goal lead at halftime. The Seahawks outshot the Vikings 27-2 in the first half.

Clark scored the only goal of the third period at 6:58, and fourth-period goals by senior Chris Scanlon (Winchester, Mass.) at 12:35 and junior Blair Kelley (Lee, N.H.) at 4:35 capped the Salve Regina scoring. Junior Jonathan Falls (Seekonk, Mass.) tallied the final Salem State goal with 1:59 remaining.

Freshman Chris Connors (Garden City, N.Y.) made five saves to earn his second win of the season for Seahawks, who converted on 19-of-21 clearing attempts and collected 44 ground balls, compared to 28 for Salem State. Junior Brendan Gill (Chelmsford, Mass.) recorded 17 saves in defeat.

"I thought we came ready to play and with much more energy than our last game," said Salve Regina head coach Patrick Cooney. "I thought we did some good things on defense which caused them to have trouble clearing the ball. Their goalie fills the cage well and stopped a lot of shots."

The Seahawks return to action on Saturday when they host conference rival Wentworth at 3:30 p.m. at Gaudet Field. The Vikings host Nichols Saturday at 1 p.m.