NORTON, Mass. – Junior goalie Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, R.I.) stopped a season-high 19 shots, including the final try with a second to play in the game to lead the fourth-seeded Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team to an 8-7 victory over visiting number five seed Salve Regina University this evening in the opening round of the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship Tournament at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 9-7 on the season and advance to the NEWMAC Semifinals, traveling to take on number one seed Babson College on Thursday, May 2 at 7:00 p.m. in Babson Park, Mass. The Seahawks conclude their season at 4-10.
The win was the first-ever NEWMAC Tournament victory for Wheaton since the conference began sponsoring the sport in 2014. The Lyons last appeared in the conference semifinals in 2021. Wheaton's last playoff victory came in 2012 when it defeated Babson, 7-5, on May 2 in the Pilgrim League Semifinals.
Salve Regina held margins in face-offs (12-7), ground balls (30-23) and shots 47-43), which made Almstrom's brilliance in the contest shine even brighter.
The Lyons' three goals in the third quarter were the most by either team in any quarter during the contest. The teams were tied at 2-2 after one quarter of play, before the Seahawks took a 4-3 halftime edge. Wheaton owned a 6-5 margin after three quarters of play and never relinquished the lead.
Almstrom stopped 11 of 14 shots in the second half to give the Lyons' offense a chance to erase a two-goal deficit and come away with the win. Junior midfielder Charlie Racine (Oradell, N.J.) tallied three points with a pair of goals and an assist to go with a pair of ground balls. Classmate Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) netted two goals to go with a ground ball and a caused turnover. First year attackman Mitch Tepedino (Southbury, Conn.), sophomore Emmett Edwards (Sunderland, Vt.) and junior attackman Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Conn.) all scored and assisted on a goal each. Edwards also picked up four ground balls. Almstrom added two ground balls and a big caused turnover in the waning seconds of the game.
Senior midfielder Max Beauchamp (Saunderstown, R.I.) netted three goals and added an assist to lead Salve Regina to go with three ground balls. Sophomore midfielder Chris Koltzan East Quogue, N.Y.) contributed with a goal and an assist in addition to a ground ball. Graduate student face-off specialist Kieran Hughes (Oradell, N.J.) won six of 12 draws and picked up three ground balls. Junior midfielder Andrew Senecal (Narragansett, R.I.) chipped in with seven ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. First year goalie Andrew Hazard (Glastonbury, Conn.) was outstanding in his net as well with 17 saves on the night.
Senior attackman Liam Cooney (Portsmouth, R.I.) scored with 8:42 left in the third quarter to give the Seahawks a 5-3 lead. The two-goal margin seemed like a chasm in a game where eight combined goals were scored through 36-plus minutes played, but Wheaton reeled off five unanswered goals over the next 13 minutes, including the final three markers of the third quarter, to take an 8-5 advantage with 10:11 remaining in the game.
McLaughlin scored just 31 seconds after Cooney's strike and Tepedino took a feed from Goodrich and netted his 17th goal of the year to knot the game at 5-5 with 4:09 showing in the third quarter for the Lyons. Sophomore midfielder Karter Noyes (Manchester Center, Vt.) scored, perhaps, the biggest goal of his career, when he fired a laser from 20 yards out that zipped through the Salve Regina defense and into the back of the net to give Wheaton the lead for good at 6-5 with just 41 ticks left in the period.
Racine netted the first goal of the fourth quarter to bump the home team's lead to 7-5 with 11:37 left in the final quarter of play. Goodrich followed just 86 seconds later, when he emerged from behind the Seahawk net, moving away from the net, before casually flicking a no-look shot past the keeper, resulting in the Lyons' eighth marker of the night with 10:11 showing on the fourth quarter clock.
Koltzan ended a Salve Regina scoring drought of 15:29 when he scored for the Seahawks with 8:13 to go in the game to cut the deficit to 8-6. The Seahawks' defense held Wheaton scoreless for the final 10:11 of the match, while the offense looked to get back into the game. Sophomore midfielder Christopher Bethoney (Medfield, Mass.) pulled Salve Regina within a goal when he scored his seventh goal of the season with just 53 seconds left in the game.
The Seahawks looked to send the match into overtime after winning the ensuing face-off and then calling a timeout with 38.2 seconds left in the game. The visitors looked to ignite some offense from behind the net, but Almstrom came out of his net and stretched out to intercept a pass with just 17 seconds left in the contest. He flung the ball down the length of the field, but the Seahawks had one last gasp when Beauchamp picked up the loose ball and carried it into the Lyons' defensive zone, before firing a shot ticketed for the inside of the right post, but Almstrom was there again with the save to end the game and give Wheaton the win.
The teams traded goals in the opening quarter for a 2-2 tie at the end of one period of play. Edwards exchanged markers with sophomore Daniel Naglieri (Westhampton Beach, N.Y.), before McLaughlin and Beauchamp also traded goals.
Beauchamp continued his momentum into the second quarter with his second straight goal coming just 27 seconds into the quarter to give Salve Regina its first lead of the evening at 3-2. Racine took advantage of a man-up situation for the Lyons to pull even at 3-3, before Beauchamp continued his offensive scoring spree with his third straight marker coming with 57 seconds left in the opening half to restore the Seahawks' one-goal edge at 4-3.
