BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. – Junior midfielder Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) scored three times and junior goalie Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, R.I.) made a season-high 16 saves to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team over host Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 9-7, this evening at Clean Harbors Stadium in Buzzards Bay, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 4-3 on the season, while the Buccaneers dip to 3-3.
Massachusetts Maritime outshot Wheaton, 49-45, but the Lyons' goaltending was outstanding and the offense set the tone early, taking a 6-1 lead at the intermission.
McLaughlin added four ground balls for Wheaton, while first year attackman Mitch Tepedino (Southbury, Conn.) netted a pair of markers and added a ground ball and a caused turnover. Sophomore Karter Noyes (Manchester Center, Vt.) and junior Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Conn.) both scored a goal and added an assist. Goodrich also scooped up a pair of ground balls and caused two turnovers. Sophomore Pason Fielding (Carlisle, Mass.) picked up a game-high six ground balls. Almstrom made seven saves alone in the second quarter to keep the home team off the board for the period.
Sophomore midfielder Cooper Barrett (Somers, Conn.) led the Buccaneers with a trio of goals and added a ground ball, while junior midfielder Braeden Kosiewicz (Madison, Conn.) and first year middie Joe Vricella (Medford, N.J.) each registered two goals. Sophomore defender Seamus Buckley (Hauppauge, N.Y.) led the Massachusetts Maritime defense with five ground balls and four caused turnovers. Sophomore keeper Eddie Keller (Wilton, Conn.) turned away 14 shots in goal for the Buccaneers.
The teams traded goals in the first two minutes of the contest with Goodrich opening the scoring with a Wheaton goal coming just 46 seconds into the match, before Vricella matched him for Massachusetts Maritime 53 seconds later to make it 1-1.
The Lyons' defense clamped down and held their host without a marker over the next 35:29 of play, while the offense netted five unanswered goals to take a 6-1 advantage. Tepedino scored twice to spark the run and first year attackman Evan Paturzo (Bellingham, Mass.) capped the stretch with Wheaton's six goal coming with 8:14 to play in the second quarter.
Vricella snapped the scoring drought for the Buccaneers with a marker coming just over 15 minutes later to cut the margin to 6-2 with 8:10 to go in the third quarter.
Noyes and McLaughlin scored back-to-back goals to give the Lyons their largest lead of the night at 8-2 with 2:47 remaining in the quarter.
Massachusetts Maritime began its comeback, scoring five of the final six goals of the match, but ran out of time and was saddled with a two-goal defeat.
The Buccaneers ripped off three unanswered goals, including two from Barrett to close the gap at 8-5 with 13:56 to play in the fourth quarter. McLauglin tallied Wheaton's lone goal of the final period at the 7:41 mark to give the visitors a 9-5 margin. Barrett and Kosiewicz both found the back of the net for the final two scores of the contest for Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
The Lyons return to action on Saturday, March 16 when they host New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference foe Emerson College on Nordin Field at 4:00 p.m., while the Buccaneers head to Castine, Maine to play Maine Maritime Academy on the same day for a 12:00 p.m. start.
