Clair stops a career-high 21 shots in the loss

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College men's lacrosse team dropped a 14-6 conference matchup against Springfield College on Saturday afternoon at Nordin Field.

Junior Kyle Rumberger (Hyannis, Mass./Barnstable) and Devin Higgins (Nantucket, Mass./Nantucket) paced Wheaton with two markers, while sophomore Ryan Gjerset (Austin, Texas/St. Michael's Catholic Academy)  and senior Matthew Hillman (Brookline, Mass./Brookline) both buried solo tallies. Gjerset also dished out a team-high three assists in the loss.

Springfield senior Bryce Serriello (Cape Cod, Mass./Barnstable) led all scorers with four tallies on ten shots (eight on goal) alongside three ground balls. Classmate Dylan Sheehan (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) added a hat-trick and senior Kevin Sainte (Lexington, Mass./Belmont) registered two strikes to highlight the goal scoring for the Pride. Sheehan finished the contest with a game-high five points as the senior attack also contributed two assists to the offense.

Wheaton junior goalkeeper Ryan Clair (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School) stopped a career-high 21 shots, which included seven in the first period. Springfield sophomore goalkeeper Chris Santaniello (West Springfield, Mass./West Springfield) made five saves to bump his record to 3-1 on the season.

The Pride held a 47-28 advantage in shots, posted a 43-24 margin in ground balls, went 18-for-24 at the face-off X and converted 15 out of 18 of their clear attempts. The Lyons were 19-for-21 in transition and 2-for-6 in extra-man opportunities.

Senior Mark Gonzalez (Tolland, Conn./East Catholic) won 16 of his 22 face-off attempts on the afternoon for the Pride and also collected a game-high nine ground balls.

Springfield raced out to a 5-0 lead through the first 10:24 of play as Serriello guided the attack with three goals including the game opener at the 12:16 mark.

Junior Kevin Dean (Westhampton, N.Y./Westhampton Beach) capped the scoring in the first period with a man-up goal, his 14th of the season, with 1:23 left to play on a feed by Sheehan.

Higgins and Hillman countered with back-to-back extra-man opportunity strikes at 12:23 and 7:53 of the second, respectively, to cut into the deficit at 6-2 before senior James Conley (Waltham, Mass./Arlington Catholic) and Sheehan responded with a pair of goals 20 seconds apart (5:39/5:19) to reclaim the Pride's six-goal gap on the scoreboard (8-2).

In the third, Wheaton came within three (9-6) as the Blue and White outscored the visitors 4-1 over a span of 5:09. Jansen started the run at 8:48, while Rumberger potted consecutive markers at 4:46 and 3:39, respectively.

With momentum now sliding towards Wheaton's way, Gonzalez won the ensuing face-off for Springfield, scooped up the ground ball and sprinted down the rest of the field to score moments after the Lyons started to construct a comeback bid, ending the hosts rally in just six seconds.

Springfield went on to shut out Wheaton in the fourth by a 4-0 margin to wrap up the win.

Wheaton (9-5, 3-2 NEWMAC) travels to MIT on Wednesday, April 22 for a league matchup at 7 p.m. Springfield (7-7, 4-1 NEWMAC) visits Clark University next Wednesday in a conference contest slated for 7 p.m.

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