No. 10 Middlebury Holds On For 10-8 Win Over Springfield Men's Lacrosse

Photo is courtesy of Springfield College

Springfield, Mass. - The Springfield College men's lacrosse team played its seventh nationally-ranked team of the season on Wednesday afternoon and was edged by Middlebury College, 10-8, on Stagg Field.

Middlebury, which was ranked 10th in the latest USILA National Coaches Poll, improves to 8-4, while the Pride dropped to 4-7 in its non-conference finale.

Dylan Sheehan (Massapequa, N.Y.) led the Springfield offense with three goals and an assist, while Kevin Dean (Westhampton, N.Y.) scored twice.  Jake Reynolds (Scituate, Mass.) was strong between the pipes, notching a career-best 16 saves.

For the visitors, Jon Broome (Mount Lakes, N.J.) handed out a game-high four assists and Jack
Rautiola (Acton, Mass.) notched two goals and an assist.  John Jackson (Hood River, Ore.) dominated the face-off "X", going 16-for-20 with 11 ground balls.

Middlebury owned a 52-21 advantage in shots, including a 30-4 edge in the first half.  The visitors benefited from seven Springfield penalties, netting three man-up goals.

The Pride wasted little time netting the first goal of the game as Brendan Dooley (Setauket, N.Y.) hit Tom Hurley (Goffstown, N.H.) for a quick-stick goal along the crease just  39 seconds into the contest.

The Panthers answered back with an unassisted goal from Sean Carroll at the 5:48 mark after he spun free from his defender and bounced home a shot.  Middlebury added to its lead just 1:06 later on another assisted goal by Tim Giarrusso.

The Pride evened the game at 2:35 into the second quarter when Tim Cozens (Ridgefield, Conn.) delivered an inside feed to Dean all alone on the doorstep.  However, the remainder of the half was all Panthers as they reeled off six-straight goals, including a pair of man-up markers to go into the half with an 8-2 cushion.  Both Jack Gould (Prides Crossing, Mass.) and Cedric Rhodes (Seattle, Wash.) found the back of the cage twice in the surge.

Sheehan netted the first goal of the second half when he weaved through several Panthers defenders before finding the top shelf at the 11:02 mark.  After Middlebury answered with a John Simms goal 45 seconds later to regain its six-goal cushion, the Pride put together a 4-1 surge to close out the third quarter.

Springfield's burst started with a Dean bounce shot at 7:28 before Sheehan ripped an unassisted goal 39 seconds later.  Rautiolo quieted the burst after he finished a Broome feed with 5:23 on the clock for Middlebury, only to have Dom Abate (Beverly, Mass.) and Sheehan deliver goals in the final 4:08 to make it a 10-7 game heading into the final quarter.

Sheehan fired a cross-crease pass to Ty Daugstrup (Rocky River, Ohio), who picked the pass off the turf and slotted home a goal to make it a two-goal contest with 4:34 left in regulation.  However, that's as close as Springfield would get as the Panthers, despite being held off the scoreboard in the quarter, held on for the 10-8 win.

The Pride will return to New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Emerson at 1:00 pm.