SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team fell to host Springfield College, 20-8, this afternoon in a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference game on Staff Field in Springfield, Mass.
The Lyons dip to 8-7 overall and 3-4 in league play, while the Pride improve to 6-9 and 5-2. The contest was the season finale for both teams. Wheaton advances to the NEWMAC Championship Tournament as the number four seed and will host fifth-seeded Salve Regina University on Tuesday, April 30 on Nordin Field at 7:00 p.m., while Springfield secures the second seed and will host number three seed Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the same day.
The Pride defense allowed just two goals each in the first and second quarters, before holding the Lyons scoreless in the third quarter. The Springfield offense scored five times in the opening period, before scoring seven markers in the second quarter to take a 12-4 halftime lead. The home team scored four goals in each of the final two periods.
The Pride owned a 56-30 shot advantage and dominated the face-off winning 28 of 30 draws. Springfield controlled possession of the ball with 47 ground balls in contrast to 15 for Wheaton. The Lyons were awarded seven extra-man opportunities, but were only able to cash in with a goal on one of them.
First year attacker Mitch Tepedino (Southbury, Conn.) led Wheaton with a career-high four goals, while junior midfielder Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) collected two points with a goal and an assist in addition to a ground ball and a caused turnover. Sophomore attacker Emmett Edwards (Sunderland, Vt.) also contributed with two points, including a goal and an assist. First year defender Henry Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) led the defense with four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Junior goalie Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, R.I.) stopped 13 of 29 shots in 45 minutes of play, before yielding to classmate John Drew (North Andover, Mass.), who turned away seven of 11 shots in the final 15 minutes of play.
Graduate student midfielder Mason Nocito (Mahopac, N.Y.) led the Pride with five points on four goals and an assist, while sophomore attacker Brady Soldo (Shrewsbury, Mass.) tallied a game-high six points on three goals and three assists. Graduate student attacker Kevin Tierney (Glastonbury, Conn.) chipped in with three goals and an assist. Junior midfielder Vincent Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) owned the face-off with 18 of 20 wins and picked up 13 ground balls, while senior long-stick midfielder Michael Manning (Glenville, N.Y.) caused three turnovers and scooped up a pair of ground balls. Junior goalie Kaden Quirk (Nahant, Mass.) turned away one of five shots in 41:09 of play, before senior Jack Hamilton (Falmouth, Mass.) closed out the final 18:51 by stopping four of eight shots.
The teams traded goals in the opening eight-plus minutes of the game with first year middie Jake Degnan (Mahopac, N.Y.) opening the scoring at the 11:09 mark for Springfield. Tepedino matched him less than two minutes later for the Lyons. First year attacker Bryan Stensrud (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) regained the one-goal edge for the home team, before McLaughlin responded with the equalizer just 36 seconds later to knot the game at 2-2 with 6:47 left in the opening period for Wheaton.
The Pride netted the next three goals, including a marker with just three ticks left in the quarter by senior midfielder Nicholas Gorman (Valhalla, N.Y.) to give Springfield a 5-2 margin.
Tepedino tallied the first goal of the second quarter at the 13:14 mark to pull the Lyons within 5-3, but the Pride ripped off six straight goals, including two from Nocito and a pair from Tierney, to increase their lead to 11-3 with 5:19 to play in the opening half.
First year attacker Theo Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) gave Wheaton its first goal in nearly 10 minutes to make it 11-4 with 3:28 showing in the quarter, before Soldo found the back of the net for Springfield with nine seconds remaining in the quarter.
The Pride scored the only four goals of the third quarter, including two more from Nocito, to give the home team a comfortable 16-4 advantage heading into the final quarter of play.
The Lyons scored four of the first five goals of the fourth quarter to reduce the margin to 17-8 with 8:02 to go in the game. Edwards and Tepedino scored the first two markers of the quarter within a span of 79 seconds, before sophomore attacker Nick Savastano (South Salem, N.Y.) scored for Springfield. Wheaton picked up where it left off with goals from first year attacker Evan Paturzo (Bellingham, Mass.) and Tepedino to make it a nine-goal difference.
The Pride tallied the final three goals of the game to secure the win.
