BOSTON, MA - UMass Boston Men's Lacrosse honored 11 seniors before the final regular season home game of their careers on Saturday, but it was Jacob Banks of the Junior class who led the Beacons with nine goals en route to a 23-9 victory over Eastern Connecticut.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 23, Eastern Connecticut 9

UMass Boston (10-6, 5-2 LEC)
Eastern Connecticut (5-10, 2-5 LEC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Prior to Saturday's Little East Conference matchup, the Beacons honored their 11 graduating seniors, Gavin Admirand, Darien Clay, Patrick Colburn, Mic Flynn, Colin Ford, Trevor Koppy, Zach Mann, Jason McNeany, Luke Murphy, Jack Ranta, and Connor Smith. 

With pregame festivities wrapped up, Banks got to work quickly on the offensive end. Just 70 seconds into the contest he netted his 27th goal of the season to give the Beacons an early 1-0 lead. He would add another goal and an assist before the 11-minute mark.

Joining the scoring attack, Admirand posted a man-up goal with just under 11 minutes to play and would add another courtesy of an assist from Smith with just under eight. Smith would add a score of his own to stretch the UMass Boston lead to 7-0.

Admirand and Banks rank first and second in the LEC in terms of points per game with 6.25 and 5.2, respectively. Smith adds 4.06 points per contest as well, good for seventh in the league.

Eastern Connecticut would find the back of the net to break up the barrage, but the Beacons went right back to work, scoring three more goals to push the lead to 10-1 at the end of the first quarter.

With a four-goal opening frame in his back pocket, Banks went on to net a pair in the second and three more in the third to give him a nine-goal, 11-point game. 

The Beacons' large lead was never in danger thanks to the goaltending duo of Koppy and Otto Kirleis. In over 40 minutes in net, Koppy made 11 saves while allowing just six goals. In relief, Kirleis faced seven shots on goal, allowing just two to reach the net.

Behind an offensive explosion and strong goaltending, the Beacons went on to win by a final score of 23-9.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Banks' nine goals were the most in a game since Conor Lenfest scored 10 on March 4, 2020
• In addition to reaching the 100 point mark on the season, Admirand eclipsed 300 points in his career, becoming just the second player in program history to do so
  • He sits just eight shy of tying Jamie Mulroney (311) for the program record
• The Beacons' 19.2 goals per game rank second in all of Division III
• After going winless in their first 26 matchups with Eastern Connecticut, UMass Boston has now won the last three meetings in the series

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will wrap up regular season play when they travel to Vermont to face Castleton on Tuesday afternoon at 4 pm. They have won their last two matchups with the Spartans by a combined 44 goals.