Quinnipiac men’s lacrosse team (2-2 overall, 0-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) came out and flexed their offensive muscle on the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders (0-6 overall), as the Bobcats dominated in an 18-6 victory. Junior attacks Foster Cuomo and Mike Fletcher paved the way for the team, as Cuomo finished with five goals and two assists, and Fletcher added four goals with three assists.
“We came out and played really well right out of the gate,” head coach Eric Fekete said. “It was a tough week last week, coming off the loss. But I thought we had a game plan that was strong. It’s a good team when we’re locked on and they’re hungry and they’re moving in one direction.”
It was all Quinnipiac right from the start of things, as the Bobcats came out firing in the first quarter. The team put up seven goals total, led by Cuomo’s three goals in that quarter alone, and chased NJIT senior goaltender Nick Marzullo out of the game after he gave up five goals and recorded no saves. In fact, between Marzullo and freshman Alex Hunt, neither recorded a save in the first 15 minutes.
“When [Cuomo] starts hot, it’s really hard to stop him,” Fekete said. “So when he scored right away, I was pretty confident that he was going blow up today and he had a great day.”
The second was much of the same for the Bobcats, as they put in nine goals and gave up only one to go into the half up 16-1. Fletcher scored three times in the second, adding onto his goal in the first quarter to extend his goal total to four.
“Fletcher had a great game”, Fekete said. “Our starting attack is pretty solid, and the nice thing is it’s pretty diverse. Jake [Tomsik] only had one goal today, but he could four or five on Tuesday. It’s a pretty solid group overall.”
With a double-digit lead, the second half allowed time for some players who do not normally see minutes in the game, as Fekete mixed in a variety of players. The final 30 minutes saw junior attack Aaron Forster shine for the Highlanders, as he potted four goals. He was one of the only bright spots for the team that still is waiting for their first victory, as the final score ended with an 18-6 win for Quinnipiac.
“Sometimes big leads are not our friend,” Fekete said. “We’ve struggled sometimes being up and so part of the thing is keeping everything level. One of the things we talk a lot about is each game is four quarters, but we have like 148 quarters to play in the season. So we got to keep moving all the time. This game leads into Tuesday.”
Fletcher’s performance now brings him now to a team-high 14 points and ties him with freshman attack Jake Tomsik with nine goals for the team lead. Cuomo’s seven points passed Tomsik for the second highest points for Quinnipiac. After being snake bitten with only two goals through the first three games, Cuomo was able to more than double his point total from six to 13.
“Everyone was moving the ball today, I think everyone got some points,” Cuomo said. “But it feels good to get out of the slump. I was just getting open and looking for the right opportunities. I didn’t try and do too much and just find space off ball and guys got me the ball, so all the credit to the teammates.”
Quinnipiac’s next matchup will be against Fairfield (1-4 overall, 0-0 CAA) Tuesday, March 6 at 3 p.m. at Fairfield University.
