Men's Lacrosse (8-8, 6-1) Advances to ECAC Tournament Semifinals Before Falling

The Wheaton College men's lacrosse team split a pair of Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament games for the fourth time in as many trips to the tournament, advancing to the semifinals before seeing its season come to an end. The second-seeded Lyons ran away from number-seven Becker College, 24-4 on Wednesday during the first round in Norton before dropping a 10-7 decision to third-seeded New England College on Saturday during a semifinal contest at Endicott College.

Against Becker, the Lyons overcame an early deficit with 19 straight goals. Freshman Billy McNamara (Mansfield, MA/Northfield Mount Hermon School) tallied six goals and three assists while setting a program record for freshmen with nine points, sophomore Ben Cederberg (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) added four markers and three helpers, and classmate Chris Landers (Manchester, MA/Proctor Academy) turned in a hat trick, as the trio saw action in the first half before appearing only on man-up opportunities during the second half. Freshman Mike Harrington (Sturbridge, MA/Bancroft School) totaled three goals and two assists, while sophomore Corey Best (Brentwood, TN/Ravenwood) had a pair of markers and one assist. Junior Drew Schaffer (New Haven, CT/Loomis Chaffee School) collected two helpers, and classmate Schuyler Horn (New Hartford, CT/Kingswood-Oxford School) made two saves. Junior Warren Garceau (Guilford, CT/Canterbury School), sophomore Peter Buongiorno (Pittsburgh, PA/Winchester Thurston School) and freshman David Schroeder (Nashua, NH/Nashua North) had a goal and an assist apiece, with Buongiorno netting his first collegiate tally. Senior Chris Gogan-Tilstone (Amherst, NH/Souhegan), junior Andrew Brunhofer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) and freshman Conor Finn (Kennebunk, ME/Kennebunk) each scored once.

Wheaton fell shy of its first ECAC Tournament crown, as the Lyons stood tied with New England College, 4-4 at halftime before a 4-0 run put the Pilgrims up for good. Junior Tim Horan (Cheshire, CT/Cheshire) tallied a pair of markers, while senior Jeff Gomer (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) had a goal, two assists and a 7-for-11 showing on face-offs during his final collegiate game. Cederberg and freshman Charlie Willauer (Duxbury, MA/Proctor Academy) totaled one goal and one assist apiece, with Willauer recording his first points as a collegian. Horn made six saves.

Horn tied for fourth in program history in single-season wins (8) and was fifth in minutes (810) and seventh in goals against average (9.41). Gomer was third in ground balls (85) and fifth in face-off victories (103), winning 100 draws for the third time. Garceau was 10th in face-offs (84). Cederberg tied for sixth in assists (26) with the most by a Lyon in seven years and tied for 10th in points (54), recording the highest total by a Wheaton underclassman since 1997. With 31 goals, McNamara posted the most by a Lyon freshman since 1994 while becoming just the third freshman in program history to reach 30 goals.

Gomer finished first in school annals in career ground balls (289), second in face-off wins (415) and tied for second in games (61). Senior Marco Barbone (Newton, MA/Newton North) ended up first in games (64) and sixth in ground balls (131). Horn is fourth in saves (374) and wins (16), Garceau is fifth in face-off wins (180), and Schaffer is eighth in assists (46).