SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team's seven-game win streak came to an end, despite a 21-save effort from first year goalie John Drew (North Andover, Mass.), in a 9-7 loss to host Springfield College this afternoon in the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference opener on Stagg Field in Springfield, Mass. The Lyons fall to 7-1 on the season and 0-1 in league play, while the Pride improve to 2-4 and 1-0.

Springfield scored six times in the second quarter to erase a three-goal deficit and take the lead for good. The Pride dominated the face-off, winning 16 of 18 draws and owned a 41-26 margin on ground balls. Springfield held a 52-36 shot advantage to punctuate how impressive Drew's time was in net.

Junior attackman Robert Sullivan (Newton, Mass.) registered three points to lead the Wheaton offense with two goals and an assist to go with a pair of ground balls. Seniors Alex Berg (Southport, Conn.) and Alec Morin (Belmont, Mass.) each netted two goals for the Lyons. Berg also added three ground balls and Morin collected one. Senior attacker Lou Mainella (Falmouth, Maine) dished for a game-high three assists and picked up a pair of ground balls. Sophomore defender Jacob Wharton (Worcester, Mass.) helped the defensive effort with three ground balls and two caused turnovers, while first year Michael Fanning (Needham, Mass.) came up with three caused turnovers in addition to a ground ball.

Senior attacker Zac Schuette (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) led all players with six points on four goals and two helpers, including three goals and an assist in the second quarter for the Pride. Sophomore goalie Jack Hamilton (Falmouth, Mass.) made 14 saves between the pipes, junior Steven Betsch (Port Washington, N.Y.) was impressive at the "X", going 16-for-18 on faceoffs with seven ground balls, and senior defender Connor Roberts (Somers, Conn.) caused five turnovers.

After being held scoreless in the opening quarter and facing a 3-0 deficit, Springfield's offense came alive in the second quarter as it netted six goals on 18 shots to take a 6-4 lead into the break. Schuette buried a shot on the run at 14:07 to start a 4-0 scoring burst for the Pride that featured strikes from Patrick Watson (Franklin, Mass.), Nicholas Gorman (Valhalla, N.Y.) and another from Schuette. After Berg stepped into a shot in transition at 1:50 to even things up at 4-4 for the Lyons, Riley Burgmyer (Somers, Conn.) shook his defender and bounced home a shot at 51 seconds to put the Pride back on top. In a wild finish to the half, Schuette put together an impressive individual effort in the final seconds to beat the horn and give Springfield a 6-4 halftime edge.

The teams would each find the back of the net in the third, with Wheaton striking just 90 seconds into the frame before Jarrett Nagengast (Bay Shore, N.Y) blistered a man-up marker at 8:05 to push the Pride's lead back to two goals at 7:05.

Each squad scored twice in the final 15 minutes of play, as Wheaton's Shane Ross (Hanson, Mass.) snuck a shot inside the left post to make it 7-6 with 13:43 left in regulation. However, Schuette netted his fourth marker of the game at 8:53 and Alek Turi (Glastonbury, Conn.) finished a Kyle McEniry (Franklin, Mass.) feed just over two minutes later to give the Pride a 9-6 lead. Berg tallied the final goal of the day with 31 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.

The Lyons jumped out to a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter as Morin sandwiched a pair of unassisted markers around a strike from Sullivan on the doorstep.  

Wheaton returns to action on Saturday, March 26 when it hosts NEWMAC foe Emerson College on Nordin Field at 1:00 p.m., while Springfield hosts Amherst College on March 23 at 7:00 p.m.