The men’s lacrosse team (4-3, 0-1 Ivy) demolished University of Massachusetts at Lowell (2-5, 0-1 America East) 13-6 in a Tuesday afternoon home game. Buoyed by an impressive first half, the Bears broke their two-game losing streak against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Cornell.
Midfielder Marcus Wertheim ’26 contributed an impressive four goals, and attacker Jeremy Hopsicker ’26 notched a hat trick, bringing him to a season total of 19 goals.
“We were able to make a lot of adjustments in a short amount of time and it was great to see both personnel and scheme adjustments executed on,” Head Coach Jon Torpey wrote in an email to The Herald.
The Bears dominated from the beginning, securing an impressive five goals in the first quarter. The River Hawks trailed behind with only one point.
Wertheim struck first, launching a long, low goal just over a minute and a half into the game. Midfielder Henry Brayer ’27 won the faceoff coming off the goal, giving Bruno an opportunity to strike. Less than a minute later, attacker Ennis Udo ’28 danced around defenders to charge the goal and bring the score to 2-0 with a quick shot.
Staying on the ground, the Bears came up with another chance to strike a few minutes later. A quick pass from attacker Jameson Steele ’29 to Hopsicker caught the River Hawks off guard, and Hopsicker extended Bruno’s lead to 3-0 just under five minutes into the game.
After fighting back and forth for possession, UMass Lowell finally got on the board with just under four minutes left in the first quarter. But the Bears refused to give up momentum as a goal by Steele and a second by Hopsicker sent Bruno into the second quarter with a 5-1 lead.
“After the loss to Cornell, we really focused on coming out with a fast start,” Hopsicker wrote in an email to the Herald. “A big emphasis for us was winning the ground ball battle and controlling possessions, which we felt would set the tone early and allow us to play our game.”
In the second quarter, the River Hawks attacker Danny Burke wove around Brown’s defense to find the back of the net first. But three consecutive goals for Brown by Wertheim, midfielder PJ Behan ’26 and attacker Brady O’Kane ’28 over the next six minutes extended the lead to six points.
Each team managed a goal in the final four minutes. UMass Lowell’s Johnny Soi snuck a shot under the stick of goalkeeper Connor Foley ’27, and Brown midfielder Ben Scandone ’26 launched a diving goal from the left side to secure the Bears’ fourth of the quarter.
The River Hawks outshot the Bears 8-5 in the third quarter, but the two teams managed to eke out just one goal apiece. Almost five minutes in, Wertheim surged from the left behind the goal, sneaking a quick shot past UMass Lowell’s defense to tally his third goal of the night.
Hungry to get another point on the board, the River Hawks’ Griffin Sumwalt struck less than three minutes later, bringing the score 10-4 in Bruno’s favor. For the remaining seven minutes of the quarter, the teams traded attempts, and Foley recorded two impressive saves.
The Bears held a comfortable six-point lead going into the final quarter. Searching for a comeback, UMass Lowell’s Ryan Proctor posted a goal just over a minute in. But to the River Hawks’ misfortune, the Bears were not done yet. Over the next five minutes, Hopsicker completed his hat trick, and Wertheim notched his fourth goal of the night, bringing the score to 12-6.
With six minutes left and hungry for more, the Bears passed around the River Hawk’s net, searching for one more opportunity. Scandone sent a strong pass to Steele, who ripped the ball straight down the middle through defenders and secured a dramatic last goal of the afternoon. With UMass Lowell unable to bring another point to the board, the game ended 13-6 in Bruno’s favor.
“I think we did a really good job at the faceoff,” Torpey wrote, “I also think we did a really good job of executing our offense and making some changes defensively.”
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, the team will face more Ivy League opponents in the coming weeks.
“We want to continue capitalizing on our strengths while improving on our weaknesses, with the goal of becoming a more well-rounded team that plays 60 minutes of complementary lacrosse.” Hopsicker wrote.
The team will hope for the same success on Saturday at 1 p.m. against St. John’s University in Queens, New York.
