Lyons claim eighth conference regular season title in program history (7th outright)

NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College men's soccer team, ranked No. 15 overall in the latest D3soccer.com national poll and No. 25 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) national rankings, captured its eighth New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season title in program history with a 5-0 win over Clark University on Saturday afternoon at Keefe Field.

Prior to today's game, Wheaton seniors Scott Enman (Brooklyn, N.Y./Packer Collegiate Institute), Luke Finkelstein (Peabody, Mass./Peabody), Travis Blair (Hastings, N.Y./Hastings), Brian Kenny (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Iona Prep), Marlon Ramalho (Framingham, Mass./Bridgton Academy), Ben Altneu (Orleans, Mass./Nauset), Jacob Battipaglia (Guilford, Conn./Guilford) and Matheus Goncalves (Framingham, Mass./Worcester Academy) were all honored for their contributions towards the men's soccer program.

Battipaglia opened up "Senior Day" in memorable fashion for the Lyons with his second goal of the season on a feed by Altneu just 5:49 into the contest. Altneu found Battipaglia at the top of the 18-yard box and Battipaglia sped past his defender for the breakaway strike to give Wheaton an early 1-0 lead.

Altneu followed with his eighth goal of the season at the 13:31 mark as he finished a cross from Enman near the penalty area for a 2-0 gap on the scoreboard in less than 15 minutes of action.

After an own goal off of a corner kick pushed Wheaton ahead 3-0 in the 19th minute, Kenny registered his first career goal with a successful penalty kick at the 41:23 mark to close out the scoring in the first half.

Sophomore midfielder/forward Steven Pinski (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) potted the final marker of the game in the 87th minute by putting home a rebound after junior forward Michael Cronin's (Wethersfield, Conn./Wethersfield) initial shot was stopped.

Wheaton junior goalkeeper Matt Dickey (Newton, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon) made one save in the win (11-0-1) to collect his 30th career victory in net (47 games played). Clark first-year goalkeeper Connor Maguire (Dunstable, Mass./Groton-Dunstable) turned away two shots in the start (45 minutes played), while backup goalkeeper Alistair Richardson (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) had three saves in 29:44 of play and Willie McDonald (Norwell, Mass./Norwell) registered one save in 15:16 of action.

Wheaton (16-2-2, 6-0-1 NEWMAC), who captured its first NEWMAC regular season title since 2007, will host the semifinals and finals of the NEWMAC Men's Soccer Tournament on Saturday, November 8 and Sunday, November 9. The Lyons will now await their opponent from the No. 4/No.5 quarterfinals matchup, which will take place next Wednesday. Clark's season comes to a close at 7-10-2, 1-4-2 NEWMAC.

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