(Photo Courtesy of Holy Cross Athletics)

On Tuesday night, the Holy Cross Crusaders welcomed in the UMass Lowell River Hawks for a battle that would pit two winless teams against each other. One of the two would be winless no more when the final buzzer sounded and that ended up being Holy Cross as they topped the River Hawks 13-9.

Everything was going the way of UMass Lowell early on. The River Hawks jumped out to a 7-0 lead with 2:54 left in the opening frame and held a 7-2 lead at the end of those first 15 minutes of play. Furthermore, that opening frame saw Holy Cross commit five turnovers and miss on two man-up opportunities.

After going 0-for-8 shooting on their first few possessions, Connor Boyle finally broke the seal for the Crusaders with 2:19 remaining in the first. Matt Major followed up with one of his own with 47 ticks left in the frame.

Boyle’s first of the day to break the lid for Holy Cross would be the spark of a 13-2 run that helped the Crusaders sprint ahead and secure its first victory of the season.

Where Holy Cross really stepped on the gas was from the 4:28 mark in the second quarter through the 12:57 mark in the fourth quarter. During that 20-plus stretch the Crusaders held UMass Lowell off the board while they put home eight scores of their own. That included a Dean DiNanno score at the 14:23 mark of the fourth quarter to tie it up at 8-8 and a Henry Sheehan goal less than a minute later to give the Crusaders their first lead of the game, 9-8.

Holy Cross had cut the UMass Lowell lead to 8-4 at the half and 8-7 entering the fourth quarter.

UMass Lowell cut it to 10-9 with 12:06 left but that was as close as they would get to retaining the lead they held for nearly 40 full minutes of game time. The River Hawks got just eight shots off in the second half; three of which were stopped by Holy Cross goalie Dawson Friers.

Friers ended the day 12 saves on the day while Connor DePiero dominated the faceoff dot, going 13-for-15 (86%). Freshman Jordan Naso went 3-for-8 (37%). The duo combined to go 16-for-23 (69%) on the day.

Freshman Michael Rincon led the way out in front of the cage as he grabbed four ground balls and caused a career-best six turnovers. Fellow freshman Julian Jenkins collected two ground balls and caused two turnovers on the day.

The Crusaders’ defense caused 11 turnover son the day. That included causing nine of the River Hawks’ 11 turnovers in the second half.

Dean DiNanno (3G/3A) and Connor Boyle (4G) led the Crusaders’ offense. Matt Major also had two goals.

Riley Lawhorn (3G/1A) led the way for UMass Lowell. Luke Renaud made 24 saves in cage.

Holy Cross (1-12, 0-7 Patriot League) closes its regular season on Saturday against Colgate on the road. UMass Lowell (0-11, 0-5 America East) close the regular season on Saturday at Vermont.

Georgetown Downs Loyola

The Georgetown Hoyas won their eighth game in a row on Tuesday night as they picked up a dominating, 23-7, victory over the Loyola Greyhounds.

After getting up 7-2 at the end of the first quarter, the Hoyas continued to pour on as they took a 15-3 lead into the half and entered the final frame with an 18-6 advanatge.

Tucker Dordevic led the way for the Hoyas with five goals while Nicky Solomon had four goals and one assist for five points. Graham Bundy, Jr., (2G/3A) and Jacob Kelly (2G/3A) each had five points off identical stat lines.

James Reilly went 16-for-22 (72%) at the faceoff dot to lead a combined 61% effort at the dot for the Hoyas. Danny Hincks got the start in cage and made eight saves.

Freshman Matthew Minicus made his return to the lineup for Loyola after being out the past few weeks and led the way with three points off two goals and one assist.

Georgetown (8-6, 3-0 Big East) moves to face St. John’s on the road on Saturday. Loyola (6-6, 3-3 Patriot League) will face Colgate at home on Saturday.