Pictured Above: Sophomore Midfielder JP Pawela (photo by Dave Saffran)

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Staten Island, NY – In a physical, defensive battle played in a cold, driving rain, the Monmouth men's lacrosse team overcame a 4-2 halftime deficit in posting an 8-4 victory over Wagner this afternoon at Hameline Field.
 
With the loss, the Seahawks fall to 1-2 on the young season while the Hawks improve to 2-0.
 
Sophomore midfielder Spencer Beyer (Carlsbad, CA/Carlsbad) opened the day's scoring by blasting home an unassisted goal at 12:58 of the first quarter for the Seahawks before Monmouth tied it 1:22 later on a Zack Schieicher shot off an assist by Griffin Figel.
 
After more than nine scoreless minutes, Wagner took a 2-1 lead on an unassisted goal by sophomore midfielder JP Pawela (Montgomery Village. MD/St. John's College), who went airborne at the 2:06 mark in recording the score. Monmouth evened the score at 2-2 just 1:16 into the second quarter as Bryce Wassermann notched his first of three goals after receiving a feed from Eric Berger.
 
Pawela then got into the act again, registering his second goal just 1:29 later, a 15-yard unassisted blast that gave the Seahawks a 3-2 lead at the 12:15 mark of the second quarter. The respective defenses then held the upper hand for the next 12 minutes until redshirt-junior midfielder William McMenamin (Longport, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) buried a shot from in close ,off a pretty feed from his identical twin brother, Patrick McMenamin (Longport, NJ/St. Augustine Prep), a redshirt-junior attackman. This man-up goal, which came with just 46 seconds remaining in the half, gave the Seahawks a 4-2 lead and the momentum heading into the break.
 
Monmouth turned the tables in the second half, tying the game at 4-4 after three quarters on unassisted goals by Dylan Schulte and Wasserman. The Hawks then took a 5-4 lead with 11:26 left to play on a Chris Daley goal off an assist by Tyler Keen, before tacking on three more goals in the quarter, two by Dan Bloodgood, and the other with 18 seconds left by Wasserman, which fashioned the final score at 8-4.
 
Wagner outshot Monmouth 31-25, while ground balls were even at 22-22. The Seahawks were 1-of-4 on extra-man opportunities while Monmouth was 0-of-1.

After the Hawks won the first five faceoffs of the game, the Seahawks came back to win eight of the next 10 in eking out an 8-7 overall edge. William McMenamin was successful on 6-of-12 faceoffs while junior Anthony Labetti (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) came on to win two of the three faceoffs that he took. William McMenamin paced Wagner with five ground balls.
 
Freshman Matt Sefcik (Towaco, NJ/Morristown Beard) registered nine saves on the afternoon and was second on the team in ground balls with four. For Monmouth, goalie Nick Hreshko was credited with 11 saves and five ground balls. 
 
The Green & White are next in action on Tuesday, March 1 when the Seahawks host the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. Faceoff between the Seahawks and the visitors from the Big 10 is set for 3:00 p.m.
 
Follow Wagner Athletics on Twitter (@WagnerAthletics) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department and @WagnerLacrosse for information pertaining specifically to the Seahawk men's lacrosse program