NORTON, Mass. – Wheaton College (Mass.) senior midfielder Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) racked up seven points and sophomore attackman Mitch Tepedino (Southbury, Conn.) matched his career high with four goals to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team to an 18-17 comeback victory over visiting Massachusetts Maritime Academy this evening at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 7-6 in the season, while the Buccaneers fall to 7-5.
Wheaton overcame an early four-goal deficit in the opening quarter and a three-goal margin in the fourth quarter before coming away with the win. Both teams combined for at least five goals in every quarter. The Lyons owned a 47-42 shot advantage for the game, while Mass Maritime held a healthy 38-25 advantage in ground balls.
McLaughlin scored three times and equaled his career best with four assists to go with three ground balls and a caused turnover for Wheaton, while Tepedino added a pair of ground balls and a caused turnover. The four assists for McLaughlin vault him into the school's top 10, where he now ranks eighth with 56 career assists. Junior attacker Emmett Edwards (Sunderland, Vt.) tallied five points, including three goals, in addition to picking up a ground ball and causing a turnover. Junior attackman Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Mass.) contributed with two goals, four assists and three ground balls. Senior goalie Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, R.I.) came up with 10 saves for the Lyons.
Junior midfielder Cooper Barrett (Somers, Conn.) netted three goals and added three ground balls for the Buccaneers, while sophomore attackman Quinn Mucha (Barnstable, Mass.) racked up six points with two goals and four assists in addition to three ground balls and a caused turnover. First year James Sullivan (Scituate, Mass.) scored twice and assisted on a trio of goals to go with a ground ball and senior face-off specialist Brian Rosher (Bridgewater, Mass.) won 18 of 31 draws and picked up a game-high eight ground balls. Sophomore keeper Ronan Kearney (Hanover, Mass.) stopped 11 shots in 59 minutes of action.
Senior midfielder Braeden Kosiewicz (Madison, Conn.) scored with 7:41 showing on the fourth quarter clock to give Massachusetts Maritime a 16-13 lead, before Wheaton took a deep breath and scored five of the final six goals to come away with the home victory.
Edwards scored 32 seconds after Kosiewicz and senior middie Jack Board (Westborough, Mass.) netted his third goal of the night to pull the Lyons within 16-15 with 6:12 to play in the game. Kosiewicz answered immediately for the visitors, just 14 ticks later, to bump the Buccaneers lead to 17-15. McLaughlin and Tepedino took over for the final five-plus minutes for Wheaton. McLaughlin scored at the 5:06 mark, before Tepedino knotted the score at 17-17 with a marker just 11 seconds later. Sophomore midfielder Will Durkee (Oakland, Maine) found McLaughlin at the top of the circle for a shot that found the back of the net with a man-up marker with 2:20 remaining in the contest to give the Lyons the lead for good at 18-17.
Massachusetts Maritime scored the first three goals of the night in a span of 1:59 with sophomore midfielder Joe Vricella (Medford, N.J.) scoring the third marker with 12:23 left in the opening quarter. Goodrich put Wheaton on the board with a goal at the 11:34 mark, before the visitors netted the next two goals, including a marker from Sullivan with 7:21 to go in the quarter to give the Buccaneers a 5-1 lead for the largest lead of the evening.
The Lyons chipped away and went on a 6-2 run, capped by a Tepedino marker to give them their first edge of the game at 8-7 with 8:17 showing in the second quarter.
Mass Maritime received goals from Barrett and Mucha to reclaim the lead at 9-8, before Wheaton sophomore attackman Evan Paturzo (Bellingham, Mass.) evened things up again at 9-9 with the final score of the half at 1:56.
Barrett and Kosiewicz found the back of the net with back-to-back goals to begin the third quarter and give the visitors an 11-9 margin. MMA later owned a 12-10 difference with 6:27 left in the quarter. Tepedino sandwiched a pair of goals around an Edwards score for Wheaton to put the Lyons in front again at 13-12 with 12:40 remaining in the third period.
The Buccaneers ripped off four straight goals for the longest scoring string of the night, including a pair of markers from Kosiewicz to give Mass Maritime a three-goal lead before Wheaton closed out the game.
The Lyons return to action on Saturday, April 19 when they head to Cambridge, Mass. to take on New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference rival Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 1:00 p.m., while Massachusetts Maritime hosts Vermont State Castleton on Senior Day at 10:00 a.m.
