CASTINE, Maine — Senior goalie Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, R.I.) made 19 saves and Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Conn.) tallied a career-high seven points to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team over host Maine Maritime Academy, 16-7, this afternoon at Ritchie Field in Castine, Maine.
The Lyons improve to 3-1 on the season, while the Mariners fall to 0-2.
Maine Maritime dominated the faceoff, winning 19 of 27 draws and owned a 53-52 shooting edge to punctuate just how instrumental Almstrom was in the team's victory.
Almstrom stopped 19 of 26 shots faced in 52:15 of play for Wheaton, before sophomore goalie Evan Borchert (Denver, Colo.) stopped the final six shots he faced in 7:45 to close out the contest. Goodrich netted a career-best four goals and added three assists to go with three ground balls. Sophomore attacker Theo Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) came alive with a personal-high five points on three goals and two assists in addition to a pair of ground balls, while junior attackman Emmett Edwards (Sunderland, Vt.) scored three times and added two ground balls and a caused turnover. Junior defender Pason Fielding (Carlisle, Mass.) picked up five ground balls and caused a turnover.
Junior midfielder Trey Marcil (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) led the Mariners with four goals and added five ground balls and a caused turnover. Senior middie Sam Nichol (Concord, N.H.) chipped in with a goal, an assist and a ground ball and sophomore midfielder Bryce Crowell (Oakland, Maine) owned the X for the home team, winning 19 of 27 face-offs, while picking up a game-high 12 ground balls and causing three turnovers. Sophomore keeper Andrew Noyes (Falmouth, Maine) turned away 17 of 31 shots in the first 45 minutes of play for Maine Maritime, before yielding to junior goalie Will Farrell (Newcastle, Maine), who stopped three of five shots in the final 15 minutes.
The Lyons scored nine of the first 11 goals in the first half, led by two markers each from Goodrich and sophomore attackman Evan Paturzo (Bellingham, Mass.). Goodrich's second score gave Wheaton a 9-2 lead with 6:51 left in the opening half. Marcil interrupted a string of seven straight goals from the Lyons with a goal coming at the 5:30 mark for the Mariners, but Edwards found the back of the net twice before the conclusion of the half to increase Wheaton's advantage to 11-3 at the intermission.
The teams traded goals in the third quarter to give each squad three apiece and set the count at 14-6 heading into the final quarter of play.
Goodrich and senior midfielder Jack Board (Westborough, Mass.) scored the only goals of the period for the Lyons, while first year attacker Tobey Lappin (South Portland, Maine) netted the final goal of the afternoon for Maine Maritime with 10:15 remaining in the contest.
Wheaton returns to the turf on Wednesday, March 5 when it hosts Roger Williams University for a 7:00 p.m. start on Nordin Field, while Maine Maritime heads to Standish, Maine to take on Saint Joseph's College on the same day at 5:00 p.m.
