WALTHAM, Mass. – Freshman
Bradley Paterson (Caldwell, NJ/Depaul Catholic) completed the Pace University men's lacrosse team's fourth-quarter comeback against Bentley University on Wednesday, scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal with 8:41 left to play, putting the Setters up by the winning score of 11-10. A huge Northeast-10 Conference victory at the Bentley Turf Field improves the Setters to 9-5 overall and 5-4 in the NE-10, while Bentley drops to 6-4 and 5-3.
The win pushes the Setters back into a playoff spot, as they take over sixth place in the conference and jump Saint Anselm College. The Setters are half a game back of Bentley for fifth place with the tiebreaker in hand.
A four-goal run by the Falcons to close out the second quarter left Pace trailing, 9-5, heading into the locker room. They were down 10-6 with 8:33 left in the third quarter before completely taking over the game. Senior
Tyler Meigel (Centereach, NY/Centereach) scored at 4:43 to get back within three, and sophomore
Anthony Gadaleta (Kings Park, NY/Kings Park) hit the back of the net with 49 seconds left in the period to make it a 10-8 score heading into the fourth.
Junior
Peter Sharp (Airmont, NY/Suffern) netted one just 59 seconds into the frame to make it a one-goal game. Senior captain
Matthew Cossidente (Port Jefferson Station, NY/Comsewogue) then tied it up at the 9:47 mark off a feed from Paterson. Just 66 seconds later, Paterson fired one past the keeper, putting the Setters up, 11-10. Sophomore goalkeeper
Robert Beshlian (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) came up clutch down the stretch, making three big saves to hold the one-goal lead for Pace.
Paterson led the Setters with two goals and two assists for a four-point evening. Sharp matched his four points on three assists and a score. Cossidente and Gadaleta each scored twice in the win. Junior
Brandon Donnellan (Chester, NY/Warwick Valley) scooped up a team-high six ground balls, while junior
Jeremy Wiley (Port Jefferson Station, NY/Comsewogue) caused three turnovers.
Beshlian improves to 9-5 on the season after stopping 17 shots for the win on Wednesday. Bentley netminder Daniel Shaughnessy made 10 saves, but took the loss after giving up 11 goals.
Bentley's Matt Sanford scored twice and assisted two others for a four-point game. Joe DiRaimo scored three times, while John Wheeler and Alex Astarita each netted two. Max Adler grabbed an impressive 18 ground balls.
The Setters will next play on Saturday, April 23, when they host Assumption College at Pace Stadium for Senior Day. Saturday will also be HEADstrong Foundation Cancer Awareness Day at Pace Stadium, as the Setters will be raising money to go directly toward the HEADstrong Foundation. It will also be Youth Lacrosse Day at Pace Stadium, where youth lacrosse players from the community are invited to play on the field and meet the Setters after both lacrosse games on Saturday. The men's lacrosse game is set to begin at 12 p.m.
For all information regarding Pace University men's lacrosse, log on to
www.PaceUAthletics.com, follow Pace Athletics on Facebook (
T-Bone, Official Mascot of Pace University Athletics), and follow the men's lacrosse team on Twitter (
@PaceLacrosse) and on Instagram (
@PaceUnivLax).
