Men’s Lacrosse Open Season with Non-Conference Loss to Anna Maria

PAXTON, Mass. – The MCLA Lacrosse team kicked off their 2025 campaign this evening at Caparso Field, home to the Anna Maria College AMCATs. Cameron LaFerriere and Neal Brierley each found the back of the cage for the Trailblazers, but three different AMCATs scored multiple goals to power Anna Maria to their second victory of the season.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Tuesday, March 4, 2025
• Score: MCLA 2, Anna Maria College 9
• Records: MCLA Trailblazers 0-1 (NAC 0-0) | Anna Maria College AMCATs 2-0 (GNAC 0-0)
• Series History: Anna Maria leads the all-time series 2-0, including a 20-13 win in the first ever meeting of the teams on March 2, 2024.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Anna Maria set the tone early in the game, scoring four goals in the first quarter, including man up goals from Nathan Powers (8:49 remaining, unassisted) and Liam Bedenkop (2:17, assisted by Powers). Eric Farrell (1:36, Powers) and Bedenkop (0:25, Farrell) scored the others.
• Freshman Cameron LaFerriere (Pittsfield, MA) scored the first goal of the season for the Trailblazers. Following a turnover by the AMCATs resulted in MCLA being awarded possession near midfield. Junior Anthony Andolina (Ballston Spa, NY) started the play sprinting behind the Anna Maria goal and circling around to the front of the net and firing off a shot from about 10 yards out. Anna Maria's Caden Rakes got a enough of the shot to deny Andolina's effort, but wasn't able to control the ball as it fell to the feet of LaFerriere near the front of the crease. LaFerriere (11:25, unassisted) picked the ball up and quickly fired from point blank range for the first goal of his collegiate career.
• With time running out in the first half, the AMCATs restored their four goal lead when Ben Hardy (0:14, unassisted) made the score 4-1 at the half.
• Following a scoreless third quarter, Anna Maria got hot again in the fourth quarter, scoring four more goals to grow their lead to 9-1. Powers (11:30, Bedenkop) and Farrell (6:27, unassisted) each scored their second goals of the game, while Jeremy Dewar (7:26, unassisted) and Logan Danarvma (4:02, Ben Hardy). Danarvma's goal came with AMC a man-up.
• With less than a minute to go, MCLA sophomore Neal Brierley (North Adams, MA) picked up his first tally of the season. Another sequence that was started near midfield for the Trailblazers started with LaFerriere passing to Andolina who was able to get off an underhand shot that bounced away from Rakes and was batted beyond the endline as Brierley outraced an Anna Maria defender to maintain the possession. Following an MCLA timeout, Brierley (0:57, unassisted) restarted play with possession near the end line and dashed along the left sideline expecting a defender to meet him but was left alone with the ball. He continued in front of the net and found an angle that he liked and drilled the back of the cage with his first goal of the year.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Shots: MCLA 19, Anna Maria 48
• Saves: MCLA 28, Anna Maria 10
• Faceoffs Won: MCLA 2, Anna Maria 13
• Turnovers: MCLA 34, Anna Maria 20
• Ground Balls: MCLA 8, Anna Maria 36
• Clears: MCLA 14 for 31, Anna Maria 16 for 17
• Man Up Opportunities: MCLA 0 for 5, Anna Maria 3 for 6

UP NEXT:

On Saturday, MCLA will be back in action when it hosts Alfred State at Shewcraft Field for a non-conference matchup with the Pioneers. Face-off is scheduled for 11 a.m.

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