NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team was defeated by visiting United States Coast Guard Academy, 12-7, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons dip to 6-2 overall and 1-1 in league play, while the Bears improve to 5-2 and 1-1.
Wheaton held a 38-32 shot advantage and committed just 10 turnovers, while Coast Guard made just 12 miscues.
Senior midfielder Charlie Racine (Oradell, N.J.) led the Lyons with a pair of goals and an assist in addition to picking up two ground balls. Junior attackman Emmett Edwards (Sunderland, Vt.) scored twice and picked up a pair of ground balls and junior attack Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Conn.) found the back of the net twice. Sophomore midfielder Chris Bodnaruk (Andover, Mass.) won 14 of 21 face-offs and came away with four ground balls for Wheaton. Senior goaltender Connor Almstrom (Cumerland, R.I.) finished with nine saves.
First year attacker Ezekiel Christian (Stonington, Conn.) tallied a career-high eight points and junior goalie Dustin Miller (Tyler, Texas) stopped 17 shots to lead the Bears. Christian netted four goals and added four assists and Miller turned away five shots in the fourth quarter to seal the win for the visitors. Senior midfielder Ryan Hunter (Bethesda, Md.) scored three times to go with a ground ball and a caused turnover. Sophomore attacker Eric Key (Clarksville, Md.) scored a pair of goals and assisted on two others and sophomore Mason Tucker (Alpharetta, Ga.) picked up four ground balls.
The Lyons held a 5-3 lead late in the second quarter, before Coast Guard ripped off six straight goals in a span of 14:56 and held Wheaton to just two goals in the final 36:05 of play.
Key scored twice, including a marker with just one tick left in the second half, and Hunter capped the scoring outburst to give the Bears a 9-5 advantage with 5:26 to play in the third quarter. Goodrich ended the scoring drought for the Lyons with an unassisted marker at the 3:04 mark for the final score of the quarter to cut the deficit to 9-6 for the Lyons.
Coast Guard tallied three of the four goals scored in the final period of play to secure the victory. Edwards scored for Wheaton with 10:50 remaining in the game to keep it a three-goal margin at 10-7, but sophomore attacker Max Silver (Jupiter, Fla.) and senior attack Mason LaForte (Waterford, Conn.) each scored to close out the contest for the Bears.
Christian opened the day's scoring with a marker coming with 9:43 to go in the first quarter for Coast Guard. Racine matched the goal for the Lyons with the only other goal in the quarter.
Senior midfielder Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) needed just 40 seconds to tally the first marker of the second quarter and give Wheaton a 2-1 edge. Christian and Hunter answered for the Bears, with goals coming in a span of 35 seconds, to reclaim the lead at 3-2 with 11:10 showing on the second quarter clock. The Lyons put together a blitz of three goals in a matter of 2:11 with Edwards, Racine and Goodrich all scoring in succession to put the home team on top, 5-3.
Wheaton plays again on Tuesday, March 25 when it heads to Lewiston, Maine to play Bates College at 6:00 p.m. while Coast Guard returns to action when it hosts United States Merchant Marine Academy on the same night at the same time.
