Castle, Quigley Leads Men's Lacrosse Over Wheaton (MA), 8-5

THE BASICS 

Score: 
Emmanuel College, 8 vs. Wheaton College, 5

Records: 
Emmanuel College Saints (2-3, 0-0 GNAC)
Wheaton College Lyons (4-3, 0-0 NEWMAC)

Location: Norton, Mass. – Nordin Field

Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2023

THE LEAD – Senior goalie Randy Castle (Boxford, Mass.) made 19 saves and junior attacker Thomas Quigley (Marblehead, Mass.) netted three goals to lead the Emmanuel College men's lacrosse team over host Wheaton College, 8-5, this evening at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The Saints improve to 2-3 on the season, while the Lyons fall to 4-3.
• Emmanuel held a 54-42 shot advantage, but it was the Saints' goaltending that proved to be the difference in the match.
• Castle made at least three saves in every quarter, including a total of 16 in the final three periods of play to give him a season-high for Emmanuel.
• Quigley added a ground ball to his night, while senior attacker Ryan Castle (Boxford, Mass.) tallied a pair of goals to go with a game-high seven ground balls.
• Junior attacker Robert Favuzza (Saugus, Mass.) contributed with a goal, three ground balls and a caused turnover and first year attacker Cole Cloney (Medfield, Mass.) notched a goal, picked up a ground ball and caused a pair of turnovers.
• Senior defender Riley Cranson (Newport, R.I.) paced the defense with game-best four caused turnovers and added three ground balls.
• For Wheaton, senior midfielder Shane Ross (Hanson, Mass.) led the Lyons offense with three goals in addition to two ground balls and caused two turnovers, while sophomore midfielder Charlie Racine (Oradell, N.J.) found the back of the net twice, came up with six ground balls, won nine of 17 face-offs and recorded three caused turnovers.
• Junior defender Jacob Wharton (Worcester, Mass.) backed the defense with five ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers while sophomore goalie John Drew (North Andover, Mass.) turned away 16 shots for the Lyons

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Saints never trailed in the match and scored five of the first six goals, including a 4-1 margin in the first half. Clonely and Quigley netted the first two markers of the game and were part of five different goal-scorers to open the contest for the visitors. Racine put Wheaton on the board just 69 seconds after Quigley's score to cut the deficit in half at 2-1 with 7:50 left in the first quarter. It was the last goal of the opening period for either team. 
• Sophomore attacker Ryan Etzo (Bedford, N.H.) and Favuzza notched the only two goals of the second quarter to give Emmanuel a 4-1 halftime advantage.
• Quigley tallied the first goal of the third quarter just 62 ticks into the session to increase the Saints' margin to 5-1. Ross and Racine each traded a goal for the home team with Ryan Castle in a 10-plus minute span before the quarter came to an end with Emmanuel owning a 7-3 cushion.
• Quigley found twine again for the first marker of the final quarter to give the Saints their biggest lead of the night at 8-3 at the 12:28 mark. The Lyons defense held Emmanuel without a goal for the remainder of the match, but the offense could only manage two goals to fall short in a comeback bid. Ross scored a man-up goal at 9:37 on a feed from sophomore midfielder Jack Board (Westborough, Mass.) and struck again with 6:01 to play in the contest to pull Wheaton to within 8-5, but it was the last score of the evening for either squad.

UP NEXT

• The Saints return to action on March 18 when they head to Northfield, Vt. to open the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) slate with Norwich University at 4:00 PM, while the Lyons host Springfield College on the same day at 1:00 PM to begin the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) circuit on Nordin Field. 

*Release courtesy of Wheaton College Athletic Communications office