Hillman nets a hat-trick in the loss

NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College men's lacrosse team dropped a 14-11 non-conference decision to Roger Williams University on Wednesday night at Nordin Field.

Senior Matthew Hillman (Brookline, Mass./Brookline) led the Lyons' attack with three goals. Sophomore Will Morrison (Osterville, Mass./Salisbury School) contributed two goals and one assist, and classmate Devin Higgins (Nantucket, Mass./Nantucket) also potted a pair of markers.

Juniors Kyle Rumberger (Hyannis, Mass./Barnstable) and Brian Teague (Cross River, N.Y./Salisbury School), first-year Griffin Phaneuf (Manchester, N.H./The Derryfield School) and sophomore Casey Buchholz (North Granby, Conn./Granby Memorial) all factored into the scoring column with one goal apiece. Teague also added a team-high two assists in the loss.

Roger Williams' junior attack Tim Kelly (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) paced all scorers with four goals alongside one assist. Classmates Nick Gagnon (Milton, Mass./Milton Academy), Will Siefert (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) and Eric Valenti (North Reading, Mass./North Reading) all buried two markers each.

Sophomores A.J. Core (Syosset, N.Y./St. Anthony's) and Max Cammarota (Redding, Conn./Joel Barlow), and juniors Doug Brown (Goldens Bridge, N.Y./John Jay) and Parker Leese (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) rounded out the scoring with solo tallies. Gagnon also finished the contest with a game-high four assists to give him six points total on the night in the victory for the Hawks.

Roger Williams held a slim 40-39 advantage in shots while both teams tied in ground balls at 40. Wheaton won the face-off matchup going 18-for-30 at the X and also went 19-for-26 on its clear attempts and 1-for-3 in extra-man opportunities. The Hawks were 12-for-30 at the face-off X and 18-for-22 in transition (.818).

Tied 7-7 at the break, Hillman and Rumberger found the back of the net with consecutive strikes at 13:18 and 12:11 of the third period, respectively, to give the Lyons a 9-7 lead on the scoreboard.

The Hawks countered with three-straight tallies as Kelly registered his 20th goal of the season at 9:27, while Cammarota followed at 6:29 and Valenti scored at 5:41 to make it 10-9 in favor of the guests.

Higgins responded for Wheaton at 2:56 with his 14th goal of the season on a slick feed by Morrison – his 21st helper of the year – but Siefert answered with an unassisted strike at 1:12 to close out the period with a one-goal lead for Roger Williams.

In the fourth, the Hawks received goals from Brown, Core and Kelly over a 7:35 span to jump ahead 14-10. Roger Williams also held Wheaton to just two shots on goal (nine shots total) despite committing a period-high eight turnovers to hold on for the victory.

Morrison capped the scoring with an unassisted tally with 3:27 left to play for his team-leading 29th goal of the season.

Wheaton junior goalkeeper Ryan Clair (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School) made nine saves in the loss (8-3). Roger Williams' senior goalkeeper Luke Aubrey (Norwalk, Conn./Brien-McMahon) stopped 11 shots in the win and also added his second assist of the year on Valenti's goal in the third period.

Defensively, first-year James Holston (Wynnewood, Pa./Haverford School) scooped up five ground balls and caused a team-high four turnovers, while classmate and reigning conference Defensive Player of the Week James Higgins (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) went 18-for-30 at the face-off X and collected five ground balls as well.

Wheaton (8-3) travels to Coast Guard Academy on Saturday for a conference clash set to face-off at 1 p.m. Roger Williams (9-3) hosts Wentworth this Saturday in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) league matchup at 1 p.m.

For the latest on Wheaton College Athletics, follow the Lyons via social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.