NORTON, Mass. — Senior midfielder Charlie Racine (Oradell, N.J.) tallied five points, including the game-winning goal and his 100th career point to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team over visiting Roger Williams University, 11-10, at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 4-1 on the season, while the Hawks fall to 2-4.
The win for Wheaton was its first over Roger Williams since a 7-6 decision on March 22, 2005 and snaps a 10-game winless streak against the Hawks. Just one match in the last 13 contests between the teams has been decided by more than four goals.
The Lyons' defensive effort was outstanding. Despite being out-shot 49-35 in the game, Wheaton allowed just six goals through the first three quarters of play.
Racine added three ground balls and a caused turnover to his night for the Lyons, while junior attacker Emmett Edwards (Sunderland, Vt.) collected three points, including a pair of goals, and added a ground ball. Senior midfielder Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) netted two goals in addition to picking up three ground balls. Sophomore face-off specialist Chris Bodnaruk (Andover, Mass.) won 11 of 22 draws and picked up a game-high eight ground balls, while sophomore defender Henry Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) scooped up four ground balls and caused a turnover. Senior goalie Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, R.I.) was outstanding in net for Wheaton, turning away 16 shots to give him 35 saves in his last two contests.
Senior attackman Ryan Vendetti (Farmington, Conn.) scored four times and added a ground ball to lead Roger Williams and sophomore midfielder Eric Brooks (Hanover, Mass.) scored a pair of goals to go with a ground ball. Junior long-stick midfielder Kyle Zirn (Chester, N.H.) led the defense with seven ground balls and a game-best three caused turnovers. Junior keeper Aaron D'Aversa (Sea Cliff, N.Y.) made nine saves.
Vendetti found the back of the net for his fourth goal of the game and fifth of the season to pull the Hawks even at 8-8 with 8:12 left in the game. The contest remained tied over the next four-plus minutes until Racine took a feed from sophomore attacker Theo Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) to register a goal to give him 100 career points and put the Lyons ahead for good at 9-8 with 4:07 showing on the fourth-quarter clock. Stamatel facilitated another goal just 54 seconds later, finding Edwards for his team-high 17th goal. Racine struck again just 48 ticks later on a pass from Edwards to increase the home team's margin to three goals at 11-8 with 2:25 to play in the game.
The additional goals proved crucial for Wheaton considering that Roger Williams refused to admit defeat, scoring twice in a span of seven seconds in the final 15 seconds of play to make it a one-goal deficit when the final horn sounded. Senior midfielder Malcolm Steegstra (Gloucester, Mass.) scored with just 15 seconds left in the quarter, before junior attackman David Rizzo (Methuen, Mass.) received the ball on the ensuing face-off and found the back of the net with eight seconds left to pull the Hawks within 11-10.
Wheaton opened the game with the first three scores of the night, while holding Roger Williams scoreless for the first 13:20 of the contest. Sophomore attackman Evan Paturzo (Bellingham, Mass.) opened the scoring at 9:14 of the first quarter, before first year middie Zac DiLauri (Parsippany, N.J.) netted his first collegiate goal at the six-minute mark. Junior attacker Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Conn.) scored less than three minutes later for the Lyons to give them a 3-0 margin with 3:07 left in the quarter.
Brooks put the Hawks on the board with a goal on a feed from senior midfielder Jack Kester (Londonderry, N.H.) with 100 seconds remaining in the first period. Roger Williams carried the momentum into the second quarter with the first two markers, including an advantage goal from Brooks to pull the Hawks even at 3-3 with 10:14 to go in the quarter.
The teams went back and forth for the rest of the contest.
Edwards and sophomore midfielder Will Durkee (Oakland, Maine) each netted goals in the final four-plus minutes of the quarter to reclaim the lead for Wheaton at 5-3 with 2:52 showing in the period. The Lyons took the two-goal margin into the half.
Vendetti got both goals back for the visitors, scoring twice in a span of 40 seconds in the first two minutes of the second half to knot the game at 5-5 with 13:26 to go in the quarter. Senior midfielder Jack Board (Westborough, Mass.) and McLaughlin followed with a goal each to restore the two-goal margin for Wheaton, making it 7-5 with 10:44 to play. Vendetti netted the final goal of the quarter to cut the difference to 7-6 with 3:26 remaining in the period.
McLaughlin scored his seventh goal of the year to bump the Lyons' lead back to a deuce at 8-6, but sophomore midfielder Brady Lee (Mattapoisett, Mass.) brought Roger Williams one goal closer before Vendetti tied the game for the final time.
Wheaton returns to action on Saturday, March 8 when it heads to West Hartford, Conn. to take on University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) for a 12:00 p.m. face-off, while the Hawks travel to Nashua, N.H. to play Rivier University on the same day at 1:00 p.m.
