Streakin' Cougars Get 7-6 Win

Worcester, Mass. - Graduate student Shawn Roche (Centerport, N.Y.) scored the game-winning goal with 1:16 left in regulation, catapulting host Clark University to a thrilling 7-6 win over Plymouth State in a non-league men's lacrosse contest on Wednesday evening on Granger Field.

The goal capped a back-and-forth affair between the two squads and extends the Cougars' winning streak to three - their longest since the middle of the 2006 season.

Clark, now 3-3, has already eclipsed its win total from a season ago and eight regular season contests still remain on their slate.

The Panthers actually took the lead on the game's first goal when Brian Giroux took a feed from Matt Johansmeyer and found the back of the net just 27 seconds into the game.

Clark answered back two minutes later when Garrett McAdam (Portland, Maine) found a wide open JC Tsagarakis (Stonington, Conn.) for his first goal of the season.

Andrew Eriksen gave the edge back to Plymouth State with help from Ty Long but Danny Heelan (Avon, Conn.) scored with less than a minute left in the second period to even the score at 2-2 going into halftime.

The teams traded goals in the first few minutes of the third period as Eriksen, Clark's Chris Adams (Bradford, N.H.), the Panthers' Mike Ventura (Columbia, N.J.) and McAdam all registered goals to make the score 4-4. Adams then collected an unassisted tally with under two minutes left in the third to give the Cougars their first lead of the contest.

That advantage would be short-lived however, as Plymouth State opened the fourth period with back-to-back goals from Teddy Akriviellis and Eriksen to move ahead 6-5 with less than 11 minutes left.

The Cougars, playing their third straight home game, eventually tied the game at the eight minute mark when Roche set up Tsagarakis with the equalizer, making way for his game-clinching score less than seven minutes later.

Clark got another stellar performance in net from sophomore Andrew DeVito (Glastonbury, Conn.) who turned back 12 shots, while the Panthers' netminder, Kevin Hayes made six stops.

Eriksen took game-high honors with three goals, while Long, Roche and Chris Johnson (Amherst, Mass.) all had two assists.

The Cougars return to action on Saturday with a 6 p.m. start against Pilgrim League foe, Massachusetts-Maritime, while the Panthers visit Western Connecticut on the same day at 12 noon.