Walker's six goals help Seahawks rally past UNE

NEWPORT, R.I. - Junior Chris Walker (Marshfield, Mass.) scored three goals and senior Brendan Rooney (West Newton, Mass.) dished out three assists to help the Salve Regina University men's lacrosse team rally back from an early three-goal deficit and defeat the University of New England, 13-9, in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) action Wednesday afternoon at a damp and muggy Reynolds Field.

Junior Brendan Carroll (Garden City, N.Y.) added two goals and two assists for the Seahawks, who ran their win streak to three games and knocked off the Nor'easters (8-9, 5-5) for the seventh-consecutive time. The win secures the No. 6 seed for the Seahawks in the upcoming conference tournament and sends them to No. 3 Gordon on Saturday afternoon. Last week, the Seahawks upended the Scots in Wenham, 13-10.

Senior Michael Woods (Kittery Point, Maine) and juniors Michael Pennacchio (Peabody, Mass.) and Dylan Thomas (Mount Pleasant, N.Y.) each scored twice for UNE, which will be the No. 7 seed and travel to No. 2 Endicott for a TCCC Quarterfinal matchup on Saturday.

Trailing 5-2 after one quarter of play, the Seahawks reeled off six-straight goals while blanking the Nor'easters for a span of 24:47 to take an 8-5 lead midway through the third quarter. Walker scored three of the six goals during the run while Carroll tallied twice.

Thomas' second of the afternoon with 6:23 to go in the third snapped UNE's scoring drought and brought it to within two (8-6) after three quarters. Senior Blair Kelley (Lee, N.H.) and freshman Chad Hollenshade (Lutherville, Md.) answered with goals for the Seahawks, giving them their largest lead of the afternoon at 10-6 with 12:00 to go. The teams alternated the final six goals of the contest.

"I thought this was a nice win against a solid ballclub," said Salve Regina head coach Patrick Cooney. "I thought our goalie (Brett Pimental) came up big in the second half. Our guys really rallied after they got down in the first. It's nice to enter the playoffs on a three-game winning streak, and we're looking forward to competing for the championship one game at a time."

The aforementioned Pimental (East Falmouth, Mass.) made a career-high 26 saves for the Seahawks, who were outshot 52-38 on the afternoon. Junior Nate Porter (Cohasset, Mass.) recorded 16 saves for the Nor'easters.

Freshman Curtis McKeon (West Haven, Conn.) won 16-of-24 draws for Salve Regina and collected a game-high nine ground balls. Kelley finished with a goal and an assist while Hollenshade had three goals and an assist. For the Nor'easters, sophomore Tyler Thomas (Mount Pleasant, N.Y.) recorded a goal and an assist and freshman Dan O'Gorman (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) collected a team-high five ground balls.