UMass Dartmouth advances to LEC semi-finals and gets second ECAC invitation in three years

(Dartmouth, MA) – With five straight wins, including a victory in the first round of the Little East Conference Tournament, the UMass Dartmouth men’s lacrosse team finished the 2003 season with an 8-6 overall mark and a 4-2 record in the LEC. The third-seeded Corsairs advanced to the LEC Tournament semi-finals and capped their season by appearing in the ECAC Division III New England Tournament.

Coach Jeff Feroce’s Corsiars knocked off sixth-seeded Southern Maine in the LEC quarterfinals, 8-3, before being eliminated in the semi-finals by second-seeded Keene State College, 20-5. UMass Dartmouth was seeded fifth in the ECAC Division III New England Tournament and lost its first round game, 8-5 at fourth-seeded Roger Williams University. The invitation by the ECAC was the Corsairs’ second in the last three seasons.

UMass Dartmouth fielded a very young squad for the 2003 season with only one senior on the team roster, defenseman Geoff Beckett (Swampscott, MA). On offense, the Corsairs top five scorers included three first-year players one sophomore and a junior.

Sophomore Joe Mirisola (Ashland, MA) tied for the lead in scoring with 18 goals and seven assists for 25 points. Mirisola was limited to 11 games but still managed to lead the Corsairs in shots (71), points per game (2.3) and goals per game (1.6). Junior Jeff Boudreau (Newton, MA) finished with 25 points, netting 11 goals and a team-high 14 assists (11th in the LEC) in 13 games. Among the other top scorers for UMass Dartmouth were three freshmen, Ryan Leary (Framingham, MA) (12-2-14), Brian Pabis (Wilbraham, MA) (17-2-19), and Mike Ruscio (Feeding Hills, MA) (7-3-10). Junior John King (Ashland, MA) had seven goals and three assists for 10 points.

Junior Mike Jenkins (Ashland, MA) did the bulk of the netminding for UMass Dartmouth but freshman Mike Foley (Milton, MA) saw some significant playing time backing up Jenkins. In 12 games, Jenkins came up with 141 saves and allowed 88 goals for a .616 saves percentage, second best among LEC goalies. Jenkins logged 516 minutes, averaging 7.33 saves per game and had one shutout to his credit. His 8.86 goals against average was fourth in the LEC. Foley appeared in eight games and had a 7.83 goals against average and a .520 saves percentage.

Following a 17-9 LEC loss to Keene State College on April 15, the Corsiars were 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the LEC. Starting with a 6-5 LEC win over UMass Boston three days later, the Corsairs ran off four wins in a row plus a forfeit victory to finish the regular season at 7-4 overall and 4-2 in the LEC. Among the four wins, in addition to the UMass Boston decision, were LEC victories over Southern Maine (13-0) and Plymouth State (16-7).

As a team, the Corsiars’ 8.62 goals against average ranked third in the LEC and their –0.24 scoring differential (8.62 allowed, 8.38 scored) was also third best in the conference.