NORTON, Mass. — Junior midfielder Evan Paturzo (Bellingham, Mass.) tallied a career-high eight points, including seven goals, to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team over visiting University of Hartford, 12-9, this afternoon in the season opener for both teams at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton.
The Lyons improve to 1-0 on the season, while the Hawks drop to 0-1.
Wheaton won 15 of 23 faceoffs for the day and forced Hartford into seven unsuccessful clear attempts in 19 tries.
Paturzo's goal total ties him for the seventh-most in a game in school history for the Lyons. He also added a caused turnover to his day. Junior goalie Evan Borchert (Littleton, Colo.) was also up to the task with 18 saves in his first collegiate start. Senior attackman Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Conn.) and junior attacker Theo Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) each netted a pair of goals, while junior midfielder Lucas Mehlhorn (South Portland, Maine) added a goal and a pair of ground balls. Junior face-off specialist Chris Bodnaruk (Andover, Mass.) dominated the X for Wheaton, winning 15 of 22 faceoffs to go with four ground balls. Junior defender Henry Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) led the defense on the field with six ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers.
Junior midfielder Nick Forgione (Denville, N.J.) led the Hawks with a trio of goals, while junior middie Aidan Ezra (New Milford, Conn.) tallied three points, including a goal, to go with a ground ball. Junior midfielder Tarin Prior (Hartford, Vt.) registered a game-high four caused turnovers and picked up five ground balls and junior Ben Costanzo (Chester, Conn.) won five of 12 faceoffs. Junior goalie CJ Ledwick (Falmouth, Mass.) stopped 13 of 23 shots in the first 45 minutes of action, before yielding to senior keeper Andrew Leibold (Chula Vista, Calif.), who turned back two of four shots in the final quarter of play.
The teams were tied 6-6 at the half, before Borchert allowed just one goal in the third quarter and the Lyons' offense scored six of the first seven goals of the second stanza to take a 12-7 advantage. Mehlhorn and Paturzo scored goals within three and a half minutes of each other to give Wheaton an 8-6 lead with 4:25 to play in the third quarter. Ezra found the back of the net for Harford to make it a one-goal game at 8-7 just 34 seconds later, but it was as close as the visitors would get for the remainder of the afternoon.
Paturzo and Theo Stamatel netted goals just 20 seconds apart before the end of the third quarter and Paturzo scored the first two markers of the fourth quarter to give the Lyons a comfortable five-goal advantage with 9:33 showing on the fourth quarter clock.
The Hawks showed some life with their first goal in nearly 15 minutes when Forgione scored off the third assist of the game from sophomore attackman Shaun Wright (Frederick, Md.). Costanzo won the ensuing faceoff and proceeded down the field with his first goal of the season just seven seconds after Forgione's tally to pull Harford to within 12-9 with 4:39 left in the game. Neither team would find twine again as Wheaton came away with the season-opening victory.
Paturzo scored the first goal of the afternoon just 32 seconds into the season, before sophomore midfielder Nick Ugolini (Agawam, Mass.) and Forgione responded with goals for the Hawks to give them a 2-1 edge with 6:45 to go in the opening quarter. Paturzo and Goodrich scored a goal each to give the home team two of the next three goals to knot the contest at 3-3 early in the second period. Senior midfielder Aidan Kemp (South Orange, N.J.) reclaimed the lead for Hartford with a man-up marker just 25 seconds later, before Theo Stamatel and Goodrich tallied back-to-back scores to give the Blue and White a 5-4 margin. Forigione and Paturzo traded goals to keep the Lyons in front at 6-5. The Hawks snuck a score in before the half expired when Wright found junior long-stick midfielder Mario Alfieri (Goshen, N.Y.) for his first goal of the season with just 18 ticks left on the clock.
Wheaton returns to action on Wednesday, February 18 when it hosts Lasell University on Nordin Field at 4:00 p.m. while Hartford hosts Vassar College on February 21 at 12:00 p.m.
