CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team was defeated by host Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 17-4, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference play this afternoon at Jack Barry Field in Cambridge, Mass.
The Lyons fall to 7-7 overall and 1-5 in conference play, while the Engineers improve to 6-7 and 4-2.
MIT held a 56-34 shooting margin as well as a 42-30 advantage in ground balls. The home team dominated the draw, winning 17 of 23 face-offs in the match.
Sophomore attackman Theo Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) led Wheaton with a pair of goals and added two ground balls, while sophomore attacker Evan Paturzo (Bellingham, Mass.) netted a goal. Senior midfielder Jack Board (Westborough, Mass.) chipped in with a goal and four ground balls and senior middie Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) registered an assist, four ground balls and a caused turnover. Junior midfielder Karter Noyes (Manchester Center, Vt.) contributed with five ground balls and a caused turnover. Senior goalie Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, R.I.) made 15 saves for the Lyons.
Senior attackman Nick Stiles (New Canaan, Conn.) led all scorers with six points, including four goals for the Engineers, while first year attacker Riley Pierce (Vestavia, Ala.) tallied three goals and picked up a ground ball. Junior midfielder Zach Bleil (New Canaan, Conn.) scored twice and added an assist, while junior defender Tim Haarmann (Boxford, Mass.) picked up four ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers. Graduate student midfielder Justin Gelwicks (Katonah, N.Y.) won 12 of 16 faceoffs and came up with a game-high nine ground balls. Junior goalie Collin Lung (Lynbrook, N.Y.) stopped six of eight shots in 47:35 of action, before yielding to first year AJ Sachwitz (Falls Church, Va.), who turned away two of four attempts in 8:56 of play. First year Caiden Lung (Lewes, Del.) also made a save in 3:29 of play for MIT.
The Engineers opened the match with seven unanswered goals,including all six goals of the first quarter. Stiles fueled the opening run with a trio of markers. Wheaton broke into the scoring column when Board netted a goal at the 7:40 mark of the second quarter to make it 7-1. Bleil and Stiles scored the final two goals of the half to give MIT a 9-1 lead at the intermission.
Junior defender Pason Fielding (Carlisle, Mass.) found Stamatel for the first goal of the third quarter with 12:06 showing on the clock for the Lyons. The Engineers closed out the quarter with three straight goals, including a score from junior attackman Oscar Lindenthal (Vero Beach, Fla.) to give MIT a 12-2 advantage with 59 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Wheaton opened the fourth quarter with consecutive markers from Paturzo and Stamatel to cut the deficit to 12-4 with 7:35 to play in the match, but it was the last show of offense from the Lyons for the remainder of the contest.
The Engineers tallied the last four goals of the afternoon to come away with a 12-goal win.
Wheaton returns to action on Saturday, April 26 when it hosts NEWMAC rival Springfield College on Nordin Field for Senior Day at 1:00 p.m., while MIT travels to Newport, R.I. on the same day to play conference opponent Salve Regina University at the same time.
