BOSTON, Mass. - A battle between two of the top offenses in the Little East Conference turned into a war of attrition in the second half on Saturday afternoon. Behind 16 saves on 25 shots faced by goalie James Boldy, UMass Boston edged the Panthers of Plymouth State University 11-9.

THE BASICS
UMass Boston 11, Plymouth State University 9

UMass Boston (9-2, 2-0 LEC)
Plymouth State University (6-4, 1-1 LEC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Nearly seven minutes of scoreless lacrosse gave way to the hottest start the Beacons could ask for  in the first quarter. Brayden MacLean continued a dream start to his UMass Boston career, scoring his 11th goal in his fourth game with the team to open up the scoring.

MacLean assisted on the second goal of the game, setting up Greg Wolff for his 25th of the year. Sean Daly went on to tack on back-to-back scores in a matter of less than a minute to extend the Beacons' lead to 4-0.

The Panthers, however, proved that they weren't without some life of their own, scoring a pair of late goals in the first and an early one in the second to cut the lead to 4-3.

Zach Mann interrupted the Plymouth State hot streak, scoring courtesy of a Daly assist, but the Panthers went right back to the block. Another 3-0 run for the visitors flipped the lead away from the Beacons for the first time, putting them down 6-5.

Wolff came to the rescue before halftime, feeding fellow Kingston, Mass. resident Daly for the tying goal with under a minute and a half to play in the half. With five seconds separating the squads from a tied score at intermission, Wolff delivered again, promptly untying the score to give the Beacons a 6-5 lead at the break. 

Freshman Dale Wills gave the Beacons their first bit of separation since the first quarter when he scored back-to-back goals with just 29 seconds of breathing room in between to take a 10-7 advantage.

Wolff's second assist of the afternoon got Charlie Chapman in the book for the first time for the team's 11th score of the afternoon. 

Despite the Beacons not scoring in the fourth, there was no sweat for the UMass Boston sideline. Boldly locked in to record seven of his 16 saves in the fourth quarter, holding the Panthers to just one goal in the frame.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Boldy finished the day with a .640 save percentage, his highest in a game this season
• Daly recorded his seventh hat trick in 10 games for the Beacons
• Patrick Carey forced a game-high four turnovers and scooped a team-high four ground balls
• The two teams combined to serve just 30 seconds for a single penalty
• The Beacons have won their last six meetings with the Panthers

WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will take the short to Babson Park, Mass. on Tuesday night when they take on the nationally-ranked Beavers of Babson College at 7 PM.