Going into Tuesday’s game against Tiverton (5-1), the Toll Gate boys’ lacrosse team sat at 2-4 in the standings, desperately needing a season-altering win to change the team’s early-season misfortunes.

The Titans got exactly what they needed, racing out to an 8-1 lead by halftime and holding off the Tigers’ comeback bid in the second half en route to an 11-8 victory, exacting some revenge after falling at Tiverton, 13-8, on Sunday night.

Senior Will Patenaude led the charge with a game-high five goals, while freshman Jack Dean netted a hat trick, Sean Vittum scored two and Kyle Palumbo added one.

“This win was really big, this was huge,” Toll Gate head coach Mike Vadney said. “Especially after Sunday night, we played at their place and they really stuck it to us. So it was really good to come out and flip the tables on them. The guys played really hard.”

Toll Gate knew that a fast start would be key on Tuesday, and it came out and executed.

Dean got Toll Gate on the board roughly 30 seconds into the first quarter when he whipped a shot low left past Tiverton keeper Billy Armstrong.

From there, Toll Gate exploded offensively.

The Titans scored the first five goals in the game – three from Patenaude and two from Dean – before a Greg Johanning shot through traffic got Tiverton on the board.

Dean would open and close the scoring in the first quarter, as he buried a shot off of a nice feed from Vittum to give Toll Gate a 6-1 lead after 12 minutes of play.

“I told them that we needed a good, signature win, and need to win out for the rest of the season, or we probably won’t have a shot at the playoffs,” Vadney said. “They stepped up, it was good to see.”

In the second quarter, Toll Gate continued its dominance.

It only scored two goals, getting one from Patenaude and one from Vittum, but the Titans’ defense really stifled a high-powered Tiverton offense, holding it scoreless for the second frame.

“[Johanning] is a very good lacrosse player, and Nolan O’Brien did a good job of shutting him down, for the most part,” Vadney said. “He had his goals, but not as many as he did before, he’s a playmaker. We put our best defenseman on their best offensive player, and today we won.”

Toll Gate knew that Tiverton would come out of halftime firing, but the Titans were able to weather the storm.

Tiverton got goals from Johanning, Thomas McKinnon and Michael Belanger in the third quarter, but Palumbo and Patenaude found the back of the net for Toll Gate to keep the Titans lead at six, 10-4, going into the fourth quarter.

Patenaude, a senior captain, stepped up for Toll Gate and was the best player on the field in the biggest game of the season thus far.

“He’s a big part of the offense,” Vadney said of Patenaude. “If it’s not the goals or assists, it’s the attention that he draws. It’s the attention that the other team has to pay to him. The offense goes around him because of what he brings.”

McKinnon and Dylan Furtado added goals to start the fourth quarter and cut Tiverton’s deficit to 10-6, but Vittum’s second tally of the game pushed Toll Gate’s lead back out to five and broke the Tigers’ momentum.

Furtado added his second of the quarter and Johanning netted his team-high fourth goal of the game in the final minutes, but it wasn’t enough, as the Titans were able to hang on for the 11-8 win.

Toll Gate, now at 3-4, will look to get back-to-back wins for the first time this season, when it hosts winless Cranston East at 3:30 p.m. today. The Titans will then travel to rival Pilgrim (4-4) for a 3:30 p.m. start on Tuesday.