NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team fell to visiting Salve Regina University, 9-7, in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play this afternoon at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons fall to 9-3 overall and 2-2 in league play, while the Seahawks improve to 7-3 and 2-2.
Wheaton scored the first three goals of the third quarter to take its largest lead of the day at 7-4 with 7:16 to play in the period, but the Salve Regina defense held its host scoreless for the final 22:16, while the offense tallied five unanswered goals to come away with the win. The Seahawks outshot the Lyons, 57-31, and dominated the fourth quarter with a 17-3 advantage. Wheaton committed 15 turnovers, while the visitors were guilty of 10. Salve Regina won 13 of 20 faceoffs in the game.
Junior midfielder Evan Paturzo (Bellingham, Mass.) recorded a game-high four points, including two goals and picked up a ground ball for the Lyons, while senior attacker Charlie Goodrich (Fairfield, Conn.) scored a pair of goals and picked up two ground balls. Senior attacker Emmett Edwards (Sunderland, Vt.) scored a goal, assisted on another and scooped up a ground ball for Wheaton. Junior keeper Evan Borchert (Littleton, Colo.) registered a career-high 19 saves.
Senior Chris Koltzan (East Quogue, N.Y.) led the Seahawks with a trio of goals, while senior attackman Daniel Naglieri (Westhampton Beach, N.Y.) netted a pair of goals and added an assist to go with a ground ball. Sophomore midfielder Heath Sumwalt (East Quogue, N.Y.) netted a pair of goals and added a ground ball. Sophomore midfielder Nate Strassberger (Milan, N.Y.) won nine of 10 face-offs and registered a ground balL and sophomore defender TJ Carlo (Wantagh, N.J.) picked up five ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers. Junior goalie Griffin Caiozzo (Lunenburg, Mass.) made 10 saves in 59:26 of action.
Goodrich scored to give the Lyons their third straight goal of the third period to give the home team a 7-4 margin with 7:16 to go in the quarter. Sumwalt scored just 59 seconds later to spark the final three goals of the period for the Seahawks to pull even at 7-7. Kotlzan followed and senior attacker Casey Johnson (Huntington, N.Y.) scored with just 24 ticks left in the quarter to even the contest at 7-7.
Neither team scored through the first 10-plus minutes of the fourth quarter, before sophomore midfielder Charlie Townsend (Portsmouth, R.I.) found the back of the net to break the tie and give Salve Regina its first lead of the afternoon at 8-7 with 4:52 showing on the fourth-quarter clock. Sumwalt scored exactly one minute later to boost the Seahawks' lead to 9-7 with 3:52 remaining in the game. Salve Regina held Wheaton without a goal for the quarter to make the two final quarter goals stand up as the margin of victory.
The Lyons netted four of the first five goals to take a 4-1 lead with 12:03 remaining in the second quarter. Paturzo tallied a pair of markers during the stretch, while junior attackman Theo Stamatel (Plainville, Mass.) put the home team ahead by three early in the second quarter. The Seahawks responded with three straight goals, including the last two from Koltzan to pull even at 4-4 with 43 seconds left in the opening half.
Junior midfielder Lucas Mehlhorn (South Portland, Maine) netted the first goal of the second half at the 12:41 mark, before Edwards and Goodrich joined their teammate with Wheaton's third unanswered marker to give the Lyons a 7-4 lead midway through the third quarter.
Wheaton is in action again when it heads to Springfield, Mass. to take on conference foe Springfield College on, Saturday, April 11 at 12:00 p.m., Salve Regina returns to play on Saturday, April 11 when it hosts NEWMAC rival Clark University at 2:00 p.m.
