Curtis McKeon scored five goals in his final regular season game as a Seahawk; Salve Regina men's lacrosse reached its most wins in a season ever (12) and will host a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) playoff game on Saturday at 1 p.m. (#4 Salve Regina v. #5 Wentworth)
Curtis McKeon scored five goals in his final regular season game as a Seahawk; Salve Regina men's lacrosse reached its most wins in a season ever (12) and will host a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) playoff game on Saturday at 1 p.m. (#4 Salve Regina v. #5 Wentworth)

Comeback falls just short, Hawks slip past SRU

BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Men's Lacrosse closed out the Seahawks of Salve Regina in Commonwealth Coast Conference rivalry match 11-9.  The seesaw contest had six lead changes with Hawks securing the lead at 4:50 in the final period.   Tim Kelly (Ridgefield, Conn.) and Will Siefert (Duxbury, Mass.) led the Hawks with six and five points respectively while Curtis McKeon (West Haven, Conn.) paced the Seahawks with three goals.

The first quarter opened with Hawks building a quick 3-0 lead.  The Hawks converted a turnover into a fast break opportunity resulting in a goal scored by Siefert which was assisted by John Ricciardi (Duxbury, Mass.) at 12:58. Siefert switched from scorer to playmaker operating behind the goal and finding Tim Kelly (Ridgefield, Conn.) cutting to the front of the cage for their second goal.  The third goal found Jon Nessa (Concord, Mass.) isolated on the left perimeter and beating his man on a drive that finished on point.

Salve Regina would answer in the second period scoring four unanswered goals and taking the 5-4 lead into halftime.  Chad Hollenshade (Lutherville, Md.) settled just outside the crease and took a pass from McKeon to put Salve Regina on the board.  The Seahawks' sophomore Sharp Jones (Scituate, Mass.) then took advantage of an RWU penalty and finished a man up power play.  Salve Regina tied the score on an unassisted attempt by Hollenshade to bring the game back to even.  The Seashawks took the lead for the first time at 6:33 on a long shot on the perimeter from the stick of Jones that found the lower left corner of the goal and put the contest at 4-3. 

The team traded goals in the last five minutes of the first half.  Cameron Signorelli (Albany, N.Y.) picked up the rebound from his own shot and finished at 4:14 to square the game before Salve Regina' s Dan Parks (Nesconset, N.Y.) transitioned a Hawks turnover for the final score of half to give the Seahawks a 5-4 advantage.

The Hawks managed two goals in the third period to retake the lead.  Kelly drove hard to the left side and fed Siefert on the right side of the goal who found his mark bringing the game back to even.  Kelly then created some transition offense for the Hawks finding Patrick Connolly (Wantagh, N.Y.) for the finish that gave the Hawks 6-5 lead heading into the final quarter.

The final period produced the most action with a total of nine score.  With 10:39 left in the last quarter Seahawk's James Fee (Massapequa, N.Y.) fed McKeon for his first of three closing period scores.  Mike Hanna (Somers, Conn.) answered working right across the perimeter and firing on net to put the Hawk's back on top with 8:49.  Within seconds, Seahawk's answered by taking the next face off and turning that into a fast break with a couple quick passes that connected Nick LoCicero (Lynbrook, N.Y.) to Jones for the finish and evening the score to 7-7.  The Hawks returned the favor on the next possession with Kelly creating for Siefert.  Salve Regina's McKeon answered while isolated on the left perimeter, faking one direction, the spinning and shooting the opposite direction to hit mark and bring it to 8-8.  Siefert and Kelly would not be out done and would connect for another score to give the Hawks the lead that they would not give up again. John Ricciardi (Duxbury, Mass.) added insurance driving hard to the right and finding some space to fire. With 1:50 left in the game Salve Regina's McKeon continued the comeback effort finishing in front of the goal.  Siefert would up the advantage with less than a minute to go on a pass from Hanna to put the final score at 11-9.

Andrew Watkins (Natick, Mass.) stopped 16 shots in the loss while Luke Aubrey (Norwalk, Conn.) saved 21 attempts in the win.   RWU held 48-31 advantage if groundballs with much of that coming from the efforts of Alan Williams on faceoffs.

Salve Regina will return to play a conference game this Saturday, April 5 at home against Western New England University at 3 p.m. and the Hawks will also return to action this Saturday, facing the University of New England in at 1:00 p.m. in Bristol, R.I.