WORCESTER, Mass. -- Senior standouts Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Conn.) and Emmett Edwards (Sunderland, Vt.) both finished with a hat-trick of goals as the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team picked up their second win in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference as they topped Clark University 11-6 on Granger Field in Worcester, Mass. on Saturday afternoon.

Wheaton improved to 9-2 overall and 2-1 in the NEWMAC following the win, while Clark remained in search of their first win after falling to 0-10 overall and 0-3 in the NEWMAC. 

Edwards and Goodrich both finished with four points on three goals and one assist, but junior Evan Paturzo (Bellingham, Mass.) matched their point total with a goal and three assists. Sophomore Zac DiLauri (Parsippany, N.J.) and junior Theo Stamatel (Planville, Mass.) both finished with three points on a goal and two assists, while Lucas Mehlhorn (South Portland, Maine) added a goal and sophomore Haden Pelletier (Gorham, Maine) notched his first collegiate marker. Junior goalkeeper Evan Borchert (Littleton, Colo.) finished with 12 saves on six goals allowed across the entire 60 minutes.

Sophomore Michael Berman Annunziata (Rye Brook, N.Y.) led the way for the Cougar's offense as he finished with two goals and an assist. Sophomore Thomas Sheehan (Duxbury, Mass.), senior Brett Newman (Cheshire, Conn.), junior Tate Gorman (Wallingford, Pa.) and sophomore Maxwell Biondi (Cranston, R.I.) each added a goal for the Cougars while junior Josh Reno (Lansdale, Pa.) finished with five saves.

Biondi began the scoring for the Cougars just three minutes into the contest to put the Lyons behind early. Newman scored his only goal of the game one minute later, and the Cougars quickly led by 2-0. 60 seconds later, the hosts made it 3-0 as Berman bounced one by Borchert. Junior Chris Bodnaruk (Andover, Mass.) won the resulting face off and worked the ball into the box for Paturzo. Paturzo connected with Edwards who netted his first goal of the game to start the comeback attempt for the Lyons. Paturzo picked up another assist 57 seconds later as he found Stamatel on the weak side for Wheaton's second goal. In less than a minute, the Lyons went from trailing by three to down by just a single goal. Neither side would score in the remaining eight minutes of the opening quarter, allowing Clark to maintain their 3-2 lead at the break. 

It took nearly five minutes of the second quarter for Wheaton to finally break through the Clark defense. Reno held strong in the opening phase, but Paturzo was able to connect with Goodrich to tie the game at 3-3. Sheehan responded a minute later with a go-ahead goal for Clark, but Wheaton responded with a Mehlhorn goal 56 seconds later. DiLauri and Goodrich connected with two and a half minutes remaining in the half, finally giving Wheaton the advantage just before halftime at 5-4. 

Bodnaruk would lose the opening face off to start the second half, but a Clark turnover gave them a chance on offense after 40 seconds elapsed. DiLauri and Paturzo linked together once again to double Wheaton's lead at 6-4. Clark applied some pressure to the Lyons' defense, but Borchert came up big as the last-line of defense with two strong saves. Goodrich rewarded the defensive effort with a goal assisted by Edwards to make it 7-4 Lyons. Exactly one minute later, the Lyons made it eight as DiLauri scored off a feed from Stamatel. With just over two minutes to go in the third, Edwards found the back of the net again with some help from Stamatel, giving Wheaton a 9-4 lead. 

With Clark's early lead long behind the Lyons, the hosts emerged for the fourth quarter with an edge to their play. The increase in physicality was rewarded with an early goal for the Cougars as Gorman got a goal to make it 9-5. Pelletier got on the score sheet with his only goal of the game two minutes later, helping Wheaton regain the five-goal lead. Just a hair over a minute later, Edwards scored his third of the game to bring the score to 11-5. Berman Annunziata scored for Clark with less than four minutes to play, but the Wheaton defense did not allow any more momentum for their hosts. The game ended with Wheaton ahead 11-6, giving them their second straight win in the NEWMAC.

Wheaton will return to Nordin Field for a home NEWMAC contest with Salve Regina University on Saturday, April 4 at 1:00 p.m.. Clark will have a quicker turnaround as it hosts Emmanuel College (Mass.) at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.