Second-Quarter Pushes Wheelock Past Men's Lacrosse

PAXTON, Mass.—A three-goal second-quarter for the Wheelock College men's lacrosse team proved to be the difference as the Wildcats claimed a 6-3 win against the AMCATS of Anna Maria College in non-conference action on Thursday.

The win marked the first for Wheelock in the three-year history of their program. They improve to 1-1 on the season, while Anna Maria falls to 0-2.

AMCAT LEADERS

Anna Maria was paced by Andrew Marcotte (Plainville, Mass.) with a goal and an assist. Freshman Zachary Bryant (Saco, Maine) and Alex Rezendes (Nantucket, Mass.) added single goals, while freshman Hunter Hoag (Pittsfield, Mass.) added an assist.

Classmate Nicholas Cesarski (New Fairfield, Conn.), followed by Edward Jankowski (Billerica, Mass.) and Kai Nero-Clark (Half Hollows, N.Y.) with four ground balls each.

WHEELOCK LEADERS

Six different players scored for the Wildcats, but Eddie Romero (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) finished with a game-high four points from a goal and two assists. Connor Mahoney (Sandwich, Mass.), Brian Peatfield (Weymouth, Mass.), Brendan Nardone (Weymouth, Mass.), Josh Simmons (Braintree, Mass.), and Keenan Brown (Salem, Mass.) all scored unassisted shots.

Nardone posted a game-high eight ground balls, followed by Romero with six.

GOALTENDING

Freshman netminder Paul Schwarz (Staten Island, N.Y.) tallied 11 saves in net for the AMCATS, while Wheelock's Noah Horning (Brookline, Mass.) posted six saves en route to the victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The two teams traded four goals in the first quarter beginning with a quick goal by Wheelock's Nardone just 21 seconds into the game. Anna Maria evened the score two minutes later as Rezendes caught a blocked shot by Hoag and fired it in. Wheelock's Peatfield scored an unassisted tally at the 7:33 mark, followed by an Anna Maria man-up goal at the 6:06 mark.

What looked to be a back-and-forth game was stalled in the second quarter, as Romero, Simmons, and Mahoney all scored unanswered goals at the 10:31, 5:58, and 2:48 marks, respectively.

The Wildcats took a four-goal lead three-and-a-half minutes into the second half and maintained it for the next 14 minutes of game time, as Anna Maria scored the final goal of the game at the 8:20 mark of the fourth quarter.

FINAL COMPARISONS

The AMCATS were outplayed on the face-off, as Wheelock won 8-of-11, led by Nardone with seven wins. Anna Maria was also jolted in penalties, as they committed 12 penalties and spent 11 minutes and 30 seconds in the penalty box. Wheelock committed nine infractions for seven minutes' worth of down time.

Wheelock committed 34 turnovers on the day to Anna Maria's 28, and both team were successful on 18 clears—Wheelock had 25 attempts, while Anna Maria finished with 29.

WHAT'S NEXT

The AMCATS return to AMCAT Field on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. non-conference game against Nichols. Wheelock continues their six-game road streak next Tuesday, March 8^th in a 3:30 non-conference game at Curry.