SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Southern New Hampshire University men's lacrosse team opened up its 2015 season with a 15-6 victory over American International College in Northeast-10 Conference action at Ronald J. Abdow Field on Wednesday. The Penmen are 1-0 overall and in the league, while the Yellow Jackets fall to 0-2, with an identical mark in conference play.

Senior Cory Allen (Suffield, Conn.) notched five goals and handed out an assist in the win for Southern New Hampshire. Senior Jeremy Buckley (Norwell, Mass.) registered three goals, while junior Cameron Joyce (Braintree, Mass.)(2G-1A), graduate student Phil LaTorre (Londonderry, N.H.)(1G-2A) and sophomore Keifer Heckman (Peabody, Mass.) (1G-2A) each chipped in with three points to lead the Penmen. The Southern New Hampshire defense held AIC to just a single goal on nine shots in the game's final 26:33.

The Penmen never trailed in the contest, and held a 3-0 advantage at the end of the first quarter. LaTorre picked up his first of the season off a feed from sophomore John Marcone (Canton, Mass.) just over six minutes into the game before sophomore Patrick Goff (Nashua, N.H.) won the ensuing faceoff and raced down the field to push Southern New Hampshire ahead by a pair just eight seconds later. Buckley closed out the scoring in the opening stanza with 3:57 remaining.

The Yellow Jackets trimmed the Penmen lead to just a single goal midway through the second with two goals in less than two minutes. Bobby Spano tallied his first of the season with 11:54 to go before halftime and Eric Overdahl made it 3-2 1:54 later.

Less than a minute after Overdahl's strike, Southern New Hampshire responded with a three-goal run. Joyce found the back of the net off an assist from LaTorre with 9:17 remaining. Allen picked up his first of the day just over two minutes later, and his second with four minutes left before intermission extended the Penmen edge to 6-2. Spano found the back of the net with 53 seconds left in the opening half to make it 6-3 at the half.

After Matthew Biggs brought AIC back to within a pair of goals, Joyce notched his second of the afternoon from LaTorre just over two and a half minutes into the third. Spano completed his hat trick with 11:33 remaining in the third, and the Southern Hampshire defense clamped down from there.

Allen struck for his third of the game with 4:13 left in the quarter from before senior Kevin Goodfellow (Wayland, Mass.) gave the Penmen a four-goal advantage. Buckley collected his second just before time expired to give Southern New Hampshire a 10-5 lead heading into the fourth.

Allen opened up the scoring 1:21 into the final frame before setting up Buckley just seven seconds later. After Heckman fed Allen for his fifth of the day, senior Matthew Auger (Nashua, N.H.) potted his first of the year with nine minutes to go, making it 14-5. Heckman capped off the eight-goal Penmen run with 5:36 left in the contest, and Spano's goal with 55 seconds to play provided the final margin of victory.

Senior Crosby Nicholson (Andover, Mass.) stopped nine shots in the Southern New Hampshire cage and also raked in six groundballs. Goff picked up eight loose balls, and won 12-of-20 faceoffs for the Penmen.

Casey Bordeaux scooped up five groundballs for the Yellow Jackets in front of Perry Booker, who registered 14 saves in the setback.

Southern New Hampshire resumes its schedule on Saturday, March 7 at noon against Mount Olive University in Finksburg, Maryland. American International returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Post University at 1 p.m.

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