BIDDEFORD, Maine - The Wheaton College men's lacrosse team tied Thursday night's game with four straight goals to start the second half at the University of New England, but its bid to overtake the Nor'easters fell short by a 13-10 count on the Big Blue Turf.
Wheaton dropped its third straight game to slip to 1-5, while the University of New England collected its second consecutive victory to improve to 4-6.
Senior Chris Landers (Manchester, Mass./Proctor Academy) led the visitors with three goals and two assists. Junior Billy McNamara (Mansfield, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon School) registered a hat trick with one helper, while senior Ben Cederberg (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) finished with a pair of tallies and one assist. Freshman goalie Jesse O'Neil (Charlestown, Mass./Boston Latin School) was credited with seven stops in the loss.
The Lyons didn't have an answer for sophomore Tyler Thomas (Mount Pleasant, N.Y./Bedford Road), who racked up five goals and three assists. Junior Michael Pennacchio (Peabody, Mass./Peabody) and freshman Dan O'Gorman (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) each turned in four points, while junior goalie Nate Porter (Cohasset, Mass./Cohasset) made 16 saves, including six in the fourth quarter.
The teams played a nip-and-tuck opening quarter, exchanging goals before the hosts took a 3-2 edge into the second period. In an offensive-heavy second quarter, the Nor'easters took control of the game by scoring six of the period's nine goals for a 9-5 advantage at the break.
The Lyons came out of the halftime intermission with new life, ripping off four unanswered goals in a 1:40 span to begin the third frame. Landers twice connected with McNamara before scoring a goal of his own, as those three tallies alone totaled 43 seconds. Just 57 ticks later, Cederberg's tally off McNamara's feed knotted the game with 10:40 on the clock.
The University of New England used a late third-quarter goal to retake a lead it wouldn't relinquish, as Thomas' tally with 20 seconds showing sparked a 3-0 run that carried into the final frame. Thomas assisted the Nor'easters' 11th goal before scoring their 12th in providing his team with a 12-9 advantage at 12:47. Landers made the score 12-10 at 8:19, but Wheaton didn't score again, as the hosts tacked on an insurance tally with 1:40 left.
The Lyons look to turn things around with their Pilgrim League opener on Saturday against visiting Massachusetts Maritime Academy at 1:00 p.m.
