Bucs Drop Season Opener in Tight Game with Warriors

Bucs Drop Season Opener in Tight Game with Warriors

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass – The Buccaneers opened their 2019 season at home inside Clean Harbors Stadium on Thursday night against the Eastern Connecticut Warriors. What was a close and well-played game for all 60 minutes ended in favor of the Warriors, 14-11. With the win, the Warriors improve to 2-0 on the season, the Buccaneer fall to 0-1.

For the Buccaneers, freshman attacker Spencer Jones (Hyannis, Mass) less all scorers with five goals in the game. Jones scored his five goals on 10 shots, eight of which were on target. Junior Frank Ragge (Scituate, Mass) and sophomore Alexandre Lucas (Walpole, Mass) each had two goals in the game for the home team. Scoring a goal apiece were senior captain Ted Powers (Marshfield, Mass) and junior Trey Guerrini (Foxborough, Mass). Powers added two assists to his score line as well. In goal, senior captain Michael Dolan (McLean, Va) faces 24 shots, saving 10 and allowing the 14 goals.

For Eastern, Brett Chin (Framingham, Mass) and Matthew Rougeot (Cheshire, Conn) each scored four goals. Chin assisted on two other Warrior scores. Sophomore attacker Jake Liebowitz (Trumbull, Conn) was a facilitator offensively for ECSU, racking up four assists and scoring a goal of his own. In net, Jack Farrell (Stratford, Conn) saw 25 Buccaneers shots, allowed the 11 goals and made 14 saves, improving to 2-0 in goal on the year.

In most team categories, ground balls, clears, and shots, the Buccaneers came out on top, with 38 clears to the Warriors 37, 14 successful clears to the visitors 13 and 40 shots to their 32. The Bucs also won 15 of the 27 total face-offs in the game.

In the beginning, both defenses kept the opposing attacks at bay allowing three total shots, two for Maritime, one for Eastern, in the first 6:20 of the game. The fourth shot, however, from Rougeot, found the back of the net to open the scoring. The Warrior goal woke up the Maritime attack who rattled off three shots on goal, finally breaking through on a Guerrini goal with just over five minutes left in the first. The Warriors scored the next two goals, using nearly all of the new 80 second shot clock on their next two possessions to take a two-goal, 3-1 lead with a minute left. Just before the first quarter ended, Buccaneer senior captain Kenneth Parnell (Marshfield, Mass) scored his first of the season to make it a one-goal game heading to the second.

Less than two minutes in to the second quarter, Ragge tied the game up for the hosts a three apiece. The Buccaneers took their first lead of the game on a man-up goal scored by Ragge, assisted by Powers with 13:44 on the clock. The teams would trade goals, which added up to four lead changes. With the score ECSU seven, Bucs 6, Rougeot netted a shot with under a minute left in the half to give the Warriors a two-goal, 8-6 lead going in to the break.

In the third, the Buccaneers couldn't quite make up the deficit, which grew to three goals, 10-7 Warriors, midway through the quarter. At the end of the third, the Bucs trailed by two once again, 10-8. Jones scored with five minutes remaining and neither team would find the back of the net again until the fourth.

The Buccaneers came out red hot in the final quarter of play, getting two goals from Powers and Jones in the first 1:30 to tie the game back up, for the first time since the second quarter, at 10-10. Eastern then scored three unanswered goals, Chins goal at the eight minute mark eventually being the game winner. Maritime got one more goal from Powers but it wasn't enough as the Warriors went down field to score their 14th goal. The Warriors left chilly Taylor's Point with the 14-11 lead over their hosts.

Next up for the Buccaneers is a Maritime Matchup on Saturday at home against the Maine Maritime Mariners at 11am at Clean Harbors Stadium.