MANSFIELD, Conn. — The Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team scored five of the final six goals to overcome a one-goal deficit and come away with a 12-9 victory over visiting Wheaton College (Mass.) this evening at Rick McCarthy Field in Mansfield, Mass.

The Lyons fall to 5-7 on the season, while the Warriors improve to 4-6.

Eastern Connecticut held a one-goal edge after the first quarter, before Wheaton outscored its hosts, 2-1, to knot the game at 4-4 at the intermission. Both teams scored four goals in the third to keep it tied at 8-8, before the Warriors put the game away in the fourth period.

The Lyons stayed with Eastern Connecticut, despite the Warriors winning 15 of 23 faceoffs.

Sophomore midfielder Charlie Racine (Oradell, N.J.) led all scorers with four goals for Wheaton and added six ground balls, while senior attacker Sam Kerrigan (West Hartford, Conn.) and first year attacker Charlie Krause (Charlestown, R.I.) each netted a pair of goals. Kerrigan added two assists to his career-high goal total as well as a ground ball, while Krause picked up a ground ball as well. Sophomore midfielder Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) tallied a game-high five points with a goal and four assists. Junior defender Jacob Wharton (Worcester, Mass.) led all players with  career-best eight ground balls and three caused turnovers. Sophomore goalie John Drew (North Andover, Mass.) recorded nine saves.

Junior midfielder Zacharie Appolon (Stamford, Conn.) led Eastern Connecticut State with three goals and an assist, while senior midfielder Garrett Lapham (Trumbull, Conn.) tallied three goals on four shots. Sophomore attackman Brycen Kennedy (Southington, Conn.) registered four points, including a pair of goals to go with two ground balls and sophomore midfielder Quinn O'Connor (Glastonbury, Conn.) found the back of the net twice to go with a pair of ground balls. Senior long-stick middie Domenic Scarano (Berlin, Conn.) picked up seven ground balls and caused three miscues, while junior midfielder Scott Galbo (East Lyme, Conn.) won 14 of 22 faceoffs. Senior goalie Nick Collazo (Park Ridge, N.J.) registered the victory with seven saves.

Racine scored with just 22 seconds left in the third quarter to give the Lyons an 8-7 edge, but O'Connor answered for the Warriors on a feed from sophomore midfielder Oliver Searle (Waterford, Conn.) just 15 seconds later to tie the score at 8-8 with just seven ticks left on the third quarter clock.

Appolon found Lapham just 59 seconds into the fourth quarter to give Eastern Connecticut State the lead for good at 9-8. Kennedy, Appolon and Lapham tallied the next three goals for the Warriors to give them a 12-8 margin with 3:31 remaining in the contest. Racine scored the final marker of the night on an assist from McLaughlin with 98 seconds to play in the game to pull the visitors to within 12-9.

Kerrigan and Racine scored just 40 seconds apart to give Wheaton an early 2-0 lead with 13:17 to go in the opening quarter. The Warriors scored the next three goals to close out the quarter, including two from Appolon, to take a 3-2 edge.

Lapham tallied a man-up goal on a feed from Kennedy to give Eastern Connecticut a two-goal margin at 13:06 of the second quarter. Neither team scored for nearly 10 minutes before the Lyons broke through on a score from Racine at 3:31. Kerrigan found McLaughlin for the last marker of the half coming with just 14 seconds left in the stanza to tie the score at 4-4.

Sophomore midfielder Jack Board (Westborough, Mass.) connected with Kerrigan for the first goal of the third quarter to give Wheaton a 5-4 edge with 13:15 to play in the period. The Warriors tallied the next two markers with scores from senior attackman Jonathan Bernier (Somers, Conn.) and O'Connor to take a 6-5 lead with 8:42 left in the quarter. 

Krause bookended goals around a marker from Eastern Connecticut's sophomore midfielder Baden Krisst (West Hartford, Conn.) to make it a 7-7 game, before Racine gave the Lyons their last lead of the evening.

Wheaton returns to action on Saturday, April 8 when it heads to Cambridge, Mass. to take on New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference rival Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 1:00 p.m., while the Warriors travel to Plymouth, N.H. to play Little East Conference foe Plymouth State University on the same day at 11:00 a.m.