NORTON, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team was defeated by visiting Clark University, 13-7, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference action at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass. 

The Lyons fall to 5-9 overall and 0-5 in league play, while the Cougars improve to 4-7 and 3-2. 

Wheaton celebrated its seniors prior to the game, honoring Cory Bannon (Hopkinton, Mass.), Jack Smyrski (Lebanon, N.H.), Daniel Benjamin (Taftville, Conn.), Robert Sullivan (Newton, Mass.), Sam Kerrigan (West Hartford, Conn.), Alex Jacubczak (East Lyme, Conn.), Max Cooper (Tolland, Conn.) and Shane Ross (Hanson, Mass.).

Clark put itself in good offensive position for most of the match by winning 16 of 23 faceoffs, but the Lyons were still able to manage a 44-40 shot advantage.

Ross paced the Wheaton offense with two goals. Sophomore attacker Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) netted a pair of goals and dished out two assists, while classmate Charlie Racine (Oradell, N.J.) netted a goal, an assist, scooped up four ground balls and caused a turnover. Sophomore goalie John Drew (North Andover, Mass.) recorded eight saves in net.

Sophomore midfielder Matt Wells (Rutland, Mass.) scored three goals on the day for Clark, while teammates John D'Eufemia (Salisbury, Mass.), Benjamin Hollerbach (West Hartford, Conn.) and Colin Howard (Cincannati, Ohio) each scored two goals apiece. Patrik Liddy (Sutton, Mass.), Tommy McCarthy (York, Maine), Ryan Kerr (Rutland, Mass.) and Attilo LaVecchia (Hamden, Conn.) each added a goal.  Mark Zito (Lincoln, R.I.) won 14 of 21 faceoffs and picked up nine ground balls. Graduate student goalie Ryan Mickelson (Mattawan, Mich.) picked up the win after stopping 14 of 21 shots in 58:08 of play. 

McLaughlin took a feed from sophomore midfielder Jack Board (Westborough, Mass.) and opened the afternoon's scoring with a man-up goal coming at the 10:47 mark of the first quarter for the Lyons. Matt Wells tied the contest for Clark with 8:29 to play in the quarter to ignite a 4-0 run that spilled into the second quarter for the Cougars. D'Eufemia netted the final two goals of the burst to give them a 4-0 lead with 11:37 left in the second quarter.

Sullivan interjected with Wheaton's second goal to cut the deficit in half with 8:04 to go in the quarter. 

McCarthy netted the only other goal of the period to give the visitors a 5-2 halftime lead.

Clark outscored the Lyons, 6-2, in the third quarter to begin to pull away with an 11-4 advantage. 

Board netted a goal at the six-minute mark for Wheaton and Ross scored with 3:21 left in the period to pull the Lyons to within 9-4. Wheaton was content to run out the clock for the third period and take its chances in the fourth quarter, but Benjamin Hollerbach netted a pair of goals within a span of six seconds in the final 13 seconds of the period to give the Cougars a seven-goal margin going into the final quarter of play. 

Wells and Howard bookended three goals from the Lyons to come away with the victory. Wells scored at 10:34 to open the fourth period scoring for Clark, before Ross, Racine and Board all found the back of the net for Wheaton to set the score at 12-7. 

Howard ripped a blistering shot following a pass from Hollerbach with 112 seconds to go in the game to cap the scoring and give the Cougars a six-goal victory.

Wheaton will play again on Wednesday, April 19 when it hosts New England College at 4:00 p.m. on Nordin Field, while Clark hosts Skidmore College at 5:00 p.m. on the same day.