Men’s Lacrosse return with win against Nichols

Sports

Lions fall to Babson, take early playoff exit

Cont. from Pg. 1

against Emerson at home. With the odds stacked against them, Emerson headed into the match looking to minimize the damage from Babson’s junior guard Megan Bauman— a goal Gould said they succeeded in achieving.

“We knew [Bauman] was their go-to kid and was the kid that killed us in the first game,” he said. “At least make it tough. We knew we weren’t going to shut her down. She’s a very good player. But we could make it tougher and I think we accomplished both goals.”

The Lions entered the game with three injured players on the bench, which Gould said made a major impact on the team dynamic.

“For all second semester we didn’t have to have Devin [Hill] we didn’t have Annika Herbert and then even in today’s game, we didn’t have Carla Pelino,” he said. “That’s three kids that were impact players for us.”

The game opened with the Beavers scoring the first points on a mid-range jumper which was answered by a layup from senior forward Katie Beckmann. A trip to the free-throw line gave Babson the lead, which the Lions retrieved after a layup from sophomore guard Olivia Deslauriers. After back and forth play continued, a three-pointer from Deslauriers knotted the game at nine.

Babson fought to get back on top following two consecutive baskets, but a three from sophomore guard Ava Salti brought the Lions within one. A bounce pass from junior center Chloe Allen—who was in double coverage—would find an open first-year Mackenzie Bruno who sank a mid-range jumper at the buzzer to put Emerson in the lead 16-15 through the first quarter.

The Beavers opened the second quarter with two trips to the free-throw line followed by two layups resulting in a score of 2116. Gibbons closed the gap with a three-pointer but Babson scored another jump shot to mitigate the damage. Babson started gaining momentum and separating them-

Emerson’s women’s basketball team struggled against Babson on Wednesday, losing 73-49 Beacon Archives.

selves from the Lions. The captains for the Lions, Beckmann and Gibbons, scored a combined nine points in the quarter but Babson got the best of the Lions, entering halftime up 39-27.

Babson scored the first points of the second half on a layup, but Gibbons sank two threes to make the score 41-33—separated by two minutes of play. Babson scored two points before Gibbons sank her third three of the quarter, forcing Babson to call a timeout. Unfortunately, Gibbons was left with all the work for the Lions and couldn’t stop the Beavers from continuing their dominance—leading by 5636 with a ten-minute quarter left to play.

The game, which was already slipping away from Emerson, would be expanded upon in the fourth quarter. The Beavers completed their sweep and scored to open the quarter. Beckmann scored a layup to end almost an eight-minute scoring drought for Emerson, while Babson scored throughout the period, extending their lead. Sophomore guard Quinn O’Connor scored the last points for the Lions with a layup and free throw, but it wouldn’t be enough.

The Dam held and when the buzzer sounded in the Staake Gymnasium, Babson won 73-49. It marked the end of Emerson’s women’s basketball team’s 202122 season.

Gibbons led the game with 21 points, which Gould said was a testament to her development as a player in recent seasons.

“You can’t manufacture that. It’s not a drill that you can do in practice,” said Gould. “I think even though it was the last game, the fact that she did that showed the growth that she had throughout the season in incremental steps along the way.”

Gould said Beckmann carried the team on the defensive end and was forced to play a difficult role but was successful.

“We put her in a tough spot where we basically said ‘look, you’re going to guard everybody,’” he said. “It doesn’t show up in a stat sheet that somebody was able to stop a kid driving because Katie was there helping. That’s something that I thought she just did and I think she did it really well.”

With just two players graduating, the majority of the team will return to the court for another run at the NEWMAC crown. Gould said he expects the team to continue to develop with more practices and step up in every facet of the game.

“We took baby steps defensively, but we need to get better,” he said. “We need to get better defensively and then we need to build on that. Then offensively they need to get in the gym and practice and get more consistent with their scoring. That’s something that they’re going to do because now they know that what they’ve had to do it’s really difficult.”

tyler_foy@emerson.edu

Men’s lacrosse opens season with win over Nichols

Jason Tulchin

Beacon Staff

The Emerson men’s lacrosse team started its 2022 season with a 15-9 win against Nichols College this Saturday, Feb. 19.

The game marks the Lions’ first home game in almost two years. Rotch Field hadn’t seen an Emerson game since February 2020. The team only played two away games last year, though head coach Matt Colombini said the home game was a much-needed change of pace from the long road trips to away games.

“It was nice just to be able to command the locker room and not have to get on a bus,” Colombini said. “You know where everything is and that everything was set up and what the routine was.”

Colombini said “managing the energy” of the team’s first home game in over two years was something the team talked about for many athletes, this was the first time since 2020 that their parents could watch them play. For some, it was the first time in their college career.

The first 10 minutes of the game was a tight game that largely favored Emerson with graduate attacker Austin Franklin scoring 3 of the 6 goals for Emerson with assists from junior and sophomore attackers Nicholas Fulgione and Birk Swan, who also recorded goals for the Lions. The early 2-0 lead established by Swan and Franklin wasn’t broken by Nichols until 6:33 left in the quarter, which ended 6-3 Lions.

The Bisons kept pace with the Lions in the second quarter, both teams netting four goals. The gap between the teams narrowed to one after Nichols scored the first two goals. Swan pushed the lead up to 2 with another tally 11 minutes in, though the Bisons kept pace with another goal less than a minute later. Three more Emerson goals and two from Nichols put the game at 10-7 Lions going into the second half.

The third frame was an aggressive push for Emerson— Franklin, Fulgione, and junior midfielder Jack O’Rourke tallied three goals, increasing the team’s lead to 13-7. Bisons’ sophomore Colby Gillis finally put Nichols on the board for the third quarter two minutes in, though a goal from first-year midfielder Skyler Celotto cemented Emerson’s lead in the third frame. The game moved into the final 15 minutes (up/down) 14-8.

The majority of the final quarter was a scoring desert for both teams, with Nichols’ offense falling short on account of junior goalie Malcolm McGrath, who blocked five shots in the quarter, two less than 30 seconds apart. Nichols was deep into the fourth with three minutes remaining when they tallied a man-up goal. The final goal of the day was scored by Emerson’s first-year attacker Hunter Gervais with 2:17 left in the game. In the Men’s lacrosse team started their season off with a win against Nichols College. / Beacon Archives

final 2 minutes, Nichols won a faceoff and took the final shot, which was blocked by McGrath. The game ended 15-9, with the Lions victorious.

Franklin led the Lions’ scoring with four goals while O’Rourke was close behind with three. Swan and Fulgione brought two goals and two assists each. Leading the defense was McGrath, with only nine goals allowed on 24 shots with 15 saves in the game. Senior defensemen Lex Torrington kept the offense fed with four turnovers.

Colombini said every Lion on the field, both new and old, stood out.

“Austin’s gone through it a lot before, Skyler’s done it before, Malcolm has started a ton of games for us and played really well,” he said. “He expected them to play great. I thought Lex Torrington did an excellent job on [Nichols’] number one offensive player, playing defense for us. Jack O’Rourke hasn’t had a ton of experience because of COVID. And he played a great game. And Nick [Fulgione], playing attack and midfield force.”

Colombini emphasized that, despite the lack of experience due to COVID, many of the less experienced players performed well.

“Those guys [Torrington, Fulgione, O’Rourke] don’t have a ton of real game reps under their belts yet,” he said. “I think combined, they had over 10 points, the three.”

Before Emerson’s next game against Wentworth Institute of Technology, which he believed would be a challenging opponent, Colombini wanted to work on the team’s consistency. “I thought we hit a little bit of a low,” Colombini said. “We stayed the course and made sure that even when things are going well, we still focused on what we’re doing so we can stay nice and sharp.”

The Lions proved they could stay sharp, defeating Wentworth 13-10 this Wednesday and bumping their season record to 2-0.

Emerson will play again Saturday, Feb. 26 against Saint Joseph’s College of Maine at Rotch Field.