BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. In a nip-tuck affair, the Western Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team fell from the ranks of the unbeaten in the Little East Conference, falling Saturday's 12-11 overtime loss at Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Senior midfielder Stephen Cicchetti (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) the final of his four goals on the afternoon to pull the Wolves even at 11-11 with seven seconds remaining in regulation.  The man-up goal came following a feed from Benjamin Hawthorne (Manorville, N.Y.) 

With 1:09 elapsed in the overtime stanza, Mitchell Maida netted the golden goal for the Buccaneers, which improve to 6-6 overall and 3-3 in the LEC.

WestConn is now 11-4 overall and 5-1 in the league.  It sits currently in second place in the league table with unbeaten Keene State (5-0) still schedule to face Salem State University later on Saturday.  The two clubs face each other on Tuesday in Danbury.  Game time against the Owls is scheduled for 7 pm at the Westside Athletic Complex.

The Wolves scored first at the 13:21 mark of the first on Cicchetti's first. Allgaier and Coolahan followed that with back-to-back Buccaneers goals at 12:28 and 11:43 to give Maritime their first lead of the game, 2-1. WestConn evened the score at 2-2 at 9:39 on a Tristan McMahon (Farmingville, N.Y.) goal. The Bucs went back-to-back again within 15 seconds at 5:38 and 5:23 from Coolahan and Maida to retake the lead at 4-2. West Conn closed out the quarter with a Julian Duque (Mastic, N.Y.) goal at 4:10 to make the score 4-3 at the end of the first.

In the second period, there were only three goals scored. Maida scored at 10:23 to make it 5-3. The Wolves scored their fourth from Duque at 8:03. Walker scored for the Bucs at 7:22 to give the Bucs a two-goal lead once again. The teams went to the halftime break with Maritime leading 6-4.

After the break, the Wolves scored first in the third at 13:09 on another from Cicchetti. Up by one, 6-5, Maritime got goals from Cameron and Doig at 7:28 and 6:27 to take a three-goal lead, 8-5. The Wolves went on the biggest goal run by either team from 5:49 to 00:21 scoring four goals from Duque, Joseph Boss (Holbrook, N.Y.), Cicchetti and Peter Triana (East Moriches, N.Y.) to tie the game at 8-8 and then take a 9-8 lead going in to the fourth quarter.

Maida tied the game at 9-9 to start the fourth at 12:51. 10 seconds later, off the face-off, Duque scored again to give West Conn a 10-9 advantage. The Bucs proceeded to go back-to-back in forty second with goals from Barrett and Kosiewicz. The Bucs led the Wolves 11-10 with just over nine minutes left. The Bucs lead lasted nearly the remainder of the game before the Wolves scored on a power play with seven seconds left to tie the game at 11-11, sending the game to overtime.

In the overtime period, the Wolves had an opportunity to win the game but rang the shot off the post. The Bucs came down the field and Maida settled the affair with his fourth goal of the day at 2:51 of the overtime period. 

Junior Brendan Grove (Cheshire, Conn.) drops to 10-4 on the season after making five saves.

John Aidonidis earned the victory between the pipes and is now 5-4 on the season.  He made 15 saves.

Scoring Highlights:

West Conn

• Julian Duque and Stephen Cicchetti each scored four times.
• Peter Traina, Tristan McMahon, and Joseph Boss all scored once.
• Trey Aronow (Holbrook, N.Y.), and Cicchetti each had two assists. Matt Sweeney (Rocky Point, N.Y.), Donald Schaumloffel (Wantagh, N.Y.), and Hawthorne all had one assist.
• Jon Russack-Baker (Groton, Conn.) led the game with nine ground balls and won 14-of-26 face-offs.
• Defensively, Ryan Kinsley (West Islip, N.Y.) caused three turnovers.
• In total, WestConn picked up 39 ground balls, were successful on 31-of-36 clears, won 14-of-26 face-offs, and took 43 total shots.

Mass. Maritime

• Mitchell Maida scored four times including the game winner in overtime. 
• Gage Coolahan scored twice, Ryan Cameron, Evan Doig, Leo Allgaier, Cooper Barrett, Braden Kosiewicz, and Doug Walker all scored once.
• Maida, Kosiewicz, Daniel Kane, and Ryan McDonough each had one assist.
• Brian Rosher picked up a team-high six ground balls and won 12-of-26 face-offs.
• Defensively, Maida led the Bucs in caused turnovers with three.
• In total, Maritime picked up 35 ground balls, were successful on 22-of-23 clears, won 12-of-26 face-offs, and took 53 total shots.

The Buccaneers are in Salem, Mass to take on the Vikings in conference play on Tuesday, April 26th at 6pm.