CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team rattled off six unanswered goals in the third quarter en route to an 8-5 victory over MIT on Wednesday night. Junior Steve Glover (Marstons Mills, Mass.) recorded all four of his goals in the pivotal frame for the Leopards (4-0) while senior Sean Burke (Centennial, Colo.) and freshman Paul Orrson (Baltimore, Md.) both scored twice for the Engineers (0-3).
Orrson provided the only goal of the first quarter which occurred after two minutes expired and then increased MIT's lead three minutes into the second stanza. Burke converted a feed from freshman Alexander Seo (Westport, Conn.) that came from behind the net at the 10:54 mark to give the hosts a 3-0 advantage. Following nine minutes of scoreless play, junior Elliot Sykora (Wilmette, Ill.) scooped up a groundball during a failed Wentworth clearing attempt and found sophomore Chris Cook (Tully, N.Y.) for the score.
The Leopards wasted little time in ending the shutout in the third quarter as a man-up strike from Glover that was set up by sophomore Ryan Coakley (Flemington, N.J.) put them on the board after 49 seconds elapsed. Glover's next goal came on a groundball pick-up deep in MIT's defensive end which brought Wentworth within two (4-2) with 11:51 on the clock. The visitors cut their deficit in half two minutes later following a flurry of activity in front of the crease. Senior Mark Pappas (Worcester, Mass.) made the initial charge at net but his shot was turned away by senior Christopher Rullan (Wexford, Pa.). Freshman Nick Parent (Windham, N.H.) quickly gathered the rebound and beat Rullan for the goal.
The game became a back-and-forth affair until junior Chris Kipp (Scarborough, Maine) redirected a pass from Coakley for an extra-man goal that tied the score at four with 4:24 left in the frame. Wentworth won the ensuing faceoff which led to another Glover-Coakley connection in a span of 41 seconds. Glover followed with a solo effort to give the Leopards a 6-4 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Wentworth controlled the ball for a majority of the final frame as it out-shot MIT, 11-2. However, the Engineers ended their scoring drought when Seo set up Burke for a man-up goal with 5:44 remaining. This was as close as it would get as the Leopards capitalized on MIT turnovers to hold on for the win. Sophomore Michael Cushera's (Waltham, Mass.) unassisted blast at 2:37 gave Wentworth some breathing room while fellow classmate Dillon Lynch (Southwick, Mass.) wrapped up the scoring just over a minute later.
In addition to his two goals, Orrson added four groundballs and two caused turnovers. Rullan amassed 17 saves, 16 groundballs, and three caused turnovers while senior Mike Gibson (Natick, Mass.) totaled six groundballs. Junior Britt Cyr (Cincinnati, Ohio) won four of his five faceoffs as sophomore John Kramer (Glastonbury, Conn.) tacked on two caused turnovers.
Junior Jared Proulx (Nashua, N.H.) tallied 21 saves and nine groundballs for the Leopards while freshman Tim Parlato (Needham, Mass.) collected seven groundballs. Glover and junior Bryan Barker (Bow, N.H.) both had four groundballs as freshman James Caldwell (New Milford, Conn.) earned three caused turnovers.
Next up for MIT will be a home game against Gordon College on Saturday, March 23 while Wentworth resumes action at home on Thursday, March 21 versus Plymouth State University.
(Recap Courtesy of MIT Sports Information)
