The UConn men’s club lacrosse team got their season underway on Saturday with a home matchup versus Bridgewater State on the rec turf. This year marked a new year for the program as they ushered in a new head coach and got an overload of freshman talent to add to the mix. Last season, the Huskies went 6-8 overall, and this year, the team looks to improve upon that mark and become a staple in the MCLA world. The Bridgewater Bears came into the contest off a pretty successful season, leading them to the Tournament where they eventually lost to URI and Air Force.
The Huskies and Bears both came onto the field on Saturday with things to prove, and both did that as this was a tightly contested game. In quarter one, Connecticut got off to a hot start as the offense was firing on all cylinders. This all started with Fogos Ben Gottsche, Will Riley and Evan Morrow who won 16 out of 23 faceoffs on the day to give the Huskies possession. This translated, along with stellar play on the offensive end, to five goals in the first for the Huskies as they pulled out to a commanding lead in quarter number one. In the second, the Huskies gained even more steam as they packed on six more goals to further increase their lead. Bridgewater got one goal to go in the second, however, this was most of what they could muster for the game.
Going into the second half, the Huskies held a commanding 11-1 lead, and it looked like that lead would only grow for the rest of the game. Bridgewater had other ideas, however, as their offense got three goals to go against Huskies’ goalie Harrison Slade in the second. UConn would net another in the third as they pushed their goal total to 12 in the game. In the fourth, the Huskies’ offense got back on track as they poured down four more goals to put the finishing touches on this one. Bridgewater would add on their final two goals in the game in the quarter as well.
The Huskies were led on the offensive end by junior Jake Saldutti who had four key goals in this one. Senior Jack McInerney also netted three goals and two assists as he was a main catalyst for the Huskies offense. Colin Hersom would also net two goals in the victory. In net Slade was great as he had 13 saves on 19 shots marking a 68.4 save percentage for the game. This is a good sight to see as the coaches will look to break the freshman into MCLA action. For BSU, they were led by Nick Bucella who had three goals, and Peter Joseph who tossed in two assists. The BSU goalie Jonah Varallo faced 20 shots and allowed in 12 to mark a 62.5 save percentage on the day.
After the game, UConn freshman Jayden Ginsburg said this about his team’s win “We came out of the game strong, but we didn’t play our game as much in the second half. Our team chemistry is really good, we play as a team where the guys love each other. We have a big week of practice with us going to Georgia this weekend to play two top 20 teams”. The Huskies will now shift their focus to two top twenty teams as Ginsburg said as they will have two daunting tests over the weekend. They will take on Powerhouse Tennessee on the 8th and Georgia Tech on the 9th as they head down to Georgia. The Huskies will look to win both of the games and prove they are the MCLA powerhouse in the northeast.