NORTON, Mass. – Sophomore attackman Emmett Edwards (Sunderland, Vt.) netted a career-high seven goals and added an assist to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team over visiting Eastern Connecticut State University, 17-8, this afternoon on a rainy Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 3-1 on the season, while the Warriors dip to 2-1.
Wheaton allowed just two goals through the first three quarters of play and held Eastern Connecticut without a goal in the second period. The Lyons dominated possession, owning a 57-23 shot advantage and a 42-26 margin on ground balls. Wheaton took advantage of five extra-man opportunities, scoring on four of five situations. The home team forced 22 Warrior turnovers, while committing just 14 in the game.
Edwards' goal total is the most for a Lyon since Ben Cederberg also scored seven times against Massachusetts Maritime Academy on April 2, 2011 and ranks as the seventh-highest single-game mark in school annals. Edwards also added a ground ball. Junior midfielder Charlie Racine (Oradell, N.J.) tallied five points with two goals and three assists, while picking up seven ground balls and causing a turnover for Wheaton. Junior middie Jack Board (Westborough, Mass.) netted three goals and first year Mitch Tepedino (Southbury, Conn.) found the back of the net twice, added a ground ball and a caused turnover. Sophomore defender Pason Fielding (Carlisle, Mass.) contributed on the defensive side with five ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Junior goalie Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, R.I.) stopped seven of 11 shots in 49:55 of play, before yielding to classmate John Drew (North Andover, Mass.), who turned away one of five shots in the final 10:05 of action.
Junior midfielder Quinn O'Connor (Glastonbury, Conn.) led the Eastern Connecticut offense with three goals on five shots and picked up a ground ball, while senior midfielder Zacharie Appolon (Stamford, Conn.) chipped in with a goal and four ground balls. Junior faceoff specialist Rick O'Neal (East Hartford, Conn.) won 13 of 23 draws and came up with six ground balls. First year goalie Gregory Hilinski (Shelton, Conn). played the entire first half and stopped seven of 17 shots, while first year keeper Keane Stanton (New Milford, Conn.) made his collegiate debut between the pipes in the second half and thwarted seven of 14 shots.
The Lyons opened the match with five unanswered goals over the first ten and a half minutes, including two scores from Tepedino. O'Connor broke into the scoring column for the Warriors with 71 seconds left in the opening quarter to cut the deficit to 5-1.
Wheaton held Eastern Connecticut State scoreless over the next 29:25, while scoring eight straight markers to take a commanding 13-1 advantage. Edwards caught fire for the Lyons scoring four times in a span of 8:07 – all in the second quarter – and added two more markers at the 13:20 and 8:58 marks of the third period to give the Lyons a 12-goal cushion.
O'Connor interrupted the scoring spree with his and the Warriors' second tally of the afternoon coming with 1:46 left in the third quarter to pull them within 13-2.
Board scored twice in a span of 52 seconds to increase Wheaton's lead to 15-2 with 12:50 to play in the match. Eastern Connecticut's offense came to life with six of the final eight goals in the last 12 minutes of the contest. First year midfielder Sean Filley (Guilford, Conn.) sparked the run for the Warriors with his first collegiate goal at 11:55 of the quarter and classmate Chris Adkins (Milford, Conn.) capped the offensive outburst with his first career tally coming with 4:18 to go in the fourth quarter to make cut the margin to 16-8.
Lyon first year attackman Evan Paturzo (Bellingham, Mass.) closed the scoring for both teams, netting the final marker on a feed from classmate Theo Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) with 58 ticks left on the clock.
Wheaton returns to action on Wednesday, March 6 when it heads to Dorchester, Mass. to take on University of Massachusetts Boston at 4:00 p.m., while Eastern Connecticut State travels to West Hartford, Conn. to play University of Saint Joseph on March 5 at 4:00 p.m.
