NORTON, Mass. – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team scored just six seconds into overtime to come away with a 13-12 overtime victory over host Wheaton College (Mass.) in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons dip to 8-6 overall and 3-3 in league play, while the Engineers improve to 5-9 overall and 4-2 in the league and clinch a NEWMAC playoff spot.
Prior to the match, Wheaton honored its senior class on Senior Day in a pre-game ceremony. The Lyon seniors honored were Jacob Wharton (Worcester, Mass.), Jack Hutchings (Billerica, Mass.), Alden Leadley (Scarborough, Maine), Cole Reid (Laconia, N.H.) and Ethan Hargrove (Chatham, N.J.).
Junior midfielder Jack Board (Westborough, Mass.) led all scorers with four goals for the Lyons to go with a ground ball, while first year attackman Mitch Tepedino (Southbury, Conn.) scored three markers. Junior midfielder Charlie Racine (Oradell, N.J.) tallied a game-high five points with two goals and three assists and added three ground balls and a caused turnover. Wharton caused a game-best five turnovers and added four ground balls. Junior keeper Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, R.I.) turned away 12 shots for Wheaton.
Graduate student midfielder Andrew Palleiko (Hopkinton, Mass.) scored just six seconds into overtime to give MIT the win. Palleiko won the face-off to open the overtime period, carried the ball into the Wheaton defensive zone and scored to eliminate any drama in the extra period to give the visitors the win.
Palleiko won 17 of 28 face-offs and came up with 14 ground balls during the match for MIT, while sophomore midfielder Garrett Campagna (Lancaster, Pa.) tallied four points with three goals and an assist to go with a ground ball. Sophomore midfielder Zach Bleil (New Canaan, Conn.) netted a trio of goals and picked up a pair of ground balls. Junior defender Patrick Timons (Woodside, Calif.) contributed on the defensive side with four ground balls and a caused turnover. Graduate student goalie David Vapnek (San Diego, Calif.) made 11 saves for the Engineers.
MIT held a 49-42 shot advantage, but committed 20 turnovers compared to 15 by the Lyons.
The Engineers led for the majority of the match and held a four-goal lead heading into the final quarter of play. Wheaton scored the first four goals of the period to pull even at 11-11. Tepedino netted a pair of goals in a span of 105 seconds to cut the deficit to 11-9 for the Lyons with 12:27 remaining in regulation. Racine made it a one-goal game after converting a feed from junior attacker Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Conn.) at the 7:13 mark of the fourth quarter. Racine figured in the next goal for the home team as well, finding Board for his 25th marker of the season on a shot that ricocheted off the crossbar and straight down across the goal line to knot the score at 11-11 with 3:16 to go in the quarter.
Bleil answered just 38 seconds later to give MIT a 12-11 edge with 2:38 left in the period. The goal ended a scoring drought of 22:50 for the visitors. Board came through again for Wheaton, finding the back of the net with just 65 ticks left in regulation to tie the contest at 12-12.
The Engineers scored three of the first four goals of the game to take a 3-1 lead with 6:59 to play in the opening quarter. Board made it a one-goal game with a marker at the 5:43 mark of the opening period for the Lyons, but senior attacker Heath Nilsen (Carlsbad, Calif.) and sophomore attackman Bryce Metalios (Riverside, Conn.) scored consecutive goals to push MIT's margin to 5-2 with 2:50 showing in the opening quarter. Racine scored 70 seconds later with the final goal of the quarter to cut the deficit to 5-3 for Wheaton.
The Engineers opened the second quarter with three unanswered goals, including a score from Campagna with 12:01 to go in the period to give them their largest lead of the day at 8-3.
The Lyons' offense came alive with four of the next five goals to close out the quarter and cut the margin to 9-7 prior to the intermission. Board and Reid bookended a goal from MIT's Campagna with Goodrich and junior midfielder Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) also scoring a goal each before the end of the half for Wheaton.
Campagna tallied his 30th goal of the season just 56 seconds into the third quarter and first year midfielder Ashton Axe (Portola Valley, Calif.) followed with the only other marker of the period to increase the Engineers' advantage to 11-7.
Wheaton closes out the regular season at Springfield College on Saturday, April 27 at 1:00 p.m. in Springfield, Mass., while MIT returns to action on the same day when it hosts Salve Regina University at 1:00 p.m.
