WALTHAM, Mass. – Senior Matt Dente (Reading, Mass./Reading) scored a man-up goal 1:22 into overtime to give the Bentley men's lacrosse team an 8-7 victory over visiting Saint Rose in the team's home-opener Saturday afternoon. Dente had a hat trick in the win.

Bentley was in a man-up situation after Saint Rose took an illegal body check penalty at the 3:02 mark of overtime. With the ball in the offensive zone, freshman Matt Sanford (Stratham, N.H./Bow) fed Dente a pass on the near post. He dodged around one defender, then the goalie, and fired his shot in to give the Falcons the win.

The Falcons dominated the first half and led 5-1 at the break. They extended their lead 6-1 on Dente's first of the game at the 12:11 mark of the third quarter.

But Bentley then went through a long scoring drought that lasted past the halfway point of the fourth quarter. That allowed the Golden Knights to get back in the game, and take a 7-6 lead with a 6-0 run. Trailing 6-3 at the start of the fourth quarter, Saint Rose scored three times in the first 3:05 of the final quarter to tie the game 6-6. They went ahead on attacker Kevin Fleming's second straight goal at the 9:00 minute mark.

Dente though tied it back up at seven with 7:33 to play, scoring off an assist from senior Mike Giorgetti (Framingham, Mass./Framingham).

Bentley had the final possession of regulation after forcing a Saint Rose turnover, but could not come up with the winning goal.

The Falcons raced out to a 5-1 first half lead as Sanford had two goals, and Giorgetti, David Phelps (Bedford, N.H./Bedford) and Mike Astarita (Bedford, N.H./Bishop Guertin) also had one.

The win improves Bentley's record to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the NE-10, while the Golden Knights fall to 2-4 and 1-2. Bentley's next game is Tuesday night at home against Saint Anselm.