NORTON, Mass. — Juniors Jack Board (Westborough, Mass.) (four) and Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Conn.) (three) combined to score seven goals while the defense allowed just one goal in the final 24:18 to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team to a 13-11 comeback victory over visiting Salve Regina University this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference action at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in NEWMAC play for their best start in conference action since 2015, while the Seahawks fall to 4-6 and 3-1.
Despite Salve Regina winning 20 of 27 face-offs, the contest was tightly contested with the visitors owning a slight 42-41 shooting edge and a 37-30 margin on ground balls. The Seahawks committed 23 turnovers compared to the Lyons tally of 21.
Board matched his career high in goals and added an assist for Wheaton, while Goodrich added an assist and a ground ball. Sophomore attackman Emmett Edwards (Sunderland, Vt.) picked up four points with two goals and a pair of assists in addition to a pair of ground balls, while junior middie Charlie Racine (Oradell, N.J.) netted two goals, picked up seven ground balls and caused a turnover. Sophomore defender Pason Fielding (Carlisle, Mass.) paced the Lyons defense with five ground balls and a caused turnover. Junior goalie Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, R.I.) made 14 saves to record his eighth double-digit save effort of the season and earn the victory.
Sophomore midfielder Chris Koltzan (East Quogue, N.Y.) came off the bench to lead Salve Regina with four goals and an assist in addition to picking up a ground ball, while sophomore attackman Daniel Naglieri (Westhampton Beach, N.Y.) netted a pair of goals and assisted on two others to go with two ground balls. Graduate student midfielder Kieran Hughes (Oradell, N.J.) was outstanding on the faceoff for the Seahawks, winning 20 of 27 draws and picking up a game-high nine ground balls. He also netted a goal. Senior attackman Liam Cooney (Portsmouth, R.I.) contributed to the defensive effort with three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Sophomore starting keeper William Kein (Summit, N.J.) turned away 13 of 26 shots in 57:30 of play, while first year goalie Andrew Hazard (Glastonbury, Conn.) stopped a shot in 2:30 of play.
Salve Regina maintained a multiple-goal lead for most of the second quarter and midway into the third period. Senior midfielder Max Beauchamp (Saunderstown, R.I.) found Naglieri for his second goal of the day with 9:18 left in the third quarter to give SRU a 10-7 lead.
Wheaton's comeback began with a goal coming just 56 seconds later when Board scored to ignite a string of five unanswered goals in a span of three minutes and 53 seconds to give the home team a 12-10 lead. Goodrich followed Board's score with a pair of goals to pull the home team even at 10-10, before Board scored again and sophomore midfielder Karter Noyes (Manchester Center, Vt.) netted his sixth goal of the season with 4:29 to go in the third period to give the Lyons the two-goal advantage.
Junior attackman Justin DeBalsi (Cranston, R.I.) ended the Seahawks' scoring drought with the first marker of the fourth quarter coming just 37 seconds into the new period to pull the visitors within a goal at 12-11.
The Wheaton defense's lone lapse in the fourth quarter did not come back to haunt them, closing out the contest by throwing a shutout in the final 14-plus minutes, while Racine gave the Lyons an insurance goal at the 3:22 mark of the quarter to make it 13-11.
The teams each exchanged a pair of goals in succession to knot the game at 2-2 in the first 13 minutes of action. Hughes won the face-off and scored just five ticks into the game, before Koltzan gave Salve Regina a 2-0 lead. First year attackman Theo Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) took advantage of a Goodrich pass to score with a man up and Racine followed just 2:16 later to pull Wheaton even at 2-2 with 5:20 to play in the opening quarter.
Koltzman and Cooney followed with consecutive markers for the visitors, before Board found the back of the net with just 11 seconds left in the period to make it a one-goal game for the Lyons after one period of play.
The Seahawks took their largest lead of the day following three straight goals, capped by a Naglieri strike with 78 seconds remaining in the first half to give Salve Regina a 7-3 lead. Wheaton took some of the air out of the Seahawks' sails, scoring twice in a span of 41 seconds before the end of the half, with Goodrich finding twine with 42 seconds showing and Edwards knocking the net with just one tick on the second quarter clock to cut the deficit to 7-5 before the intermission.
The teams traded goals to begin the third quarter, before Naglieri's marker gave Salve Regina its three-goal cushion with less than six minutes gone in the period.
The Lyons return to play on Tuesday, April 9 when they host Rivier University at 7:00 p.m. on Nordin Field, while the Seahawks host nationally-ranked NEWMAC foe Babson College on April 13 at 2:00 p.m.
