Lyons suffer major blow to postseason hopes with 7-6 loss at MIT

April 25, 2007

CAMBRIDGE, MA- The Wheaton College men's lacrosse team fell behind by three goals in the second half and could never draw even, suffering a major blow to its Pilgrim League Tournament hopes with a 7-6 conference loss at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Steinbrenner Stadium on Wednesday.

The Lyons are now 4-9 overall and 4-3 in the Pilgrim, where they sit in a three-way tie for third place, but close their regular season slate on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. by hosting Western New England College, which is undefeated and ranked third nationally. MIT improved to 5-6 and 3-4.

During a first half that saw three ties, the Lyons broke on top first behind sophomore Marco Barbone's (Newton, MA/Newton North) tally at 11:42. After MIT sophomore Patrick Shannon (Andover, MA/Phillips Andover Academy) scored at 5:17, Wheaton took the lead back 48 seconds later on senior Trey Helms' (Cockeysville, MD/Saint Paul's School) man-up marker.

Engineer senior Jonathan Stolmeier (San Antonio, TX/Saint Mary's Hall) closed out the first-quarter scoring with three seconds remaining on the man advantage, and MIT took a 3-2 lead three minutes into the second period on senior Tyler Sorba's (San Anselmo, CA/The Branson School) goal. A little more than a minute later, junior Richie Rasamny (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow) drew Wheaton even, but the Engineers clamped down on defense, holding the Lyons scoreless for the next 18:30. MIT scored three times in that span, at Shannon tallied once and graduate student Brennan Sherry (Wayland, MA/Wayland) scored twice.

Barbone broke the Engineer's shutout stretch at 7:14 of the third, and senior Markus Ricci (Wayland, MA/Wayland) got on the board with five seconds left in the period to bring the visitors within 6-5. Stolmeier tallied again with a man up at 9:56 of the fourth quarter, but Rasamny responded 1:47 later to produce the final margin. The Lyons peppered the MIT net with a game-high 12 fourth-quarter shots, but Engineer senior goalie Zach Brewer (Durham, NC/Riverside) made seven saves in that period alone to keep the hosts in front for good.

Barbone and Rasamny scored twice apiece for the Lyons, while Helms added a goal and an assist. Freshman Drew Schaffer (New Haven, CT/Loomis Chaffee School) contributed a trio of helpers, while classmate Schuyler Horn (New Hartford, CT/Kingswood-Oxford School) turned aside nine shots.

Shannon, Sherry and Stolmeier scored twice each for MIT, with Stolmeier adding an assist, while freshman Corey Garvey (Garden City, NY/Garden City) assisted on two markers. Brewer finished with 17 stops.

SCORING: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Wheaton (4-9, 4-3) 2 1 2 1 6
MIT (5-6, 3-4) 2 2 2 1 7

Cumulative Scoring:
Goals: WC- Marco Barbone 2, Richie Rasamny 2, Trey Helms, Markus Ricci; MIT- Patrick Shannon 2, Brennan Sherry 2, Jonathan Stolmeier 2, Tyler Sorba

Assists: WC- Drew Schaffer 3, Helms, Tim Horan; MIT- Corey Garvey 2, Sorba, Stolmeier

Goalie Saves: WC- Schuyler Horn 9; MIT- Zach Brewer 17

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 4/27/07.
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