Pictured Above: William McMenamin (photo by Dave Saffran)Box Score (PDF) I Box Score (HTML)Staten Island, NY – The injury-riddled Wagner men's lacrosse team dropped a hard-fought 12-11 decision to UMass Lowell today at Hameline Field despite a spectacular performance by redshirt-junior midfielder
William McMenamin (Longport, NJ/St. Augustine Prep), who poured in a career-high six goals while winning 8-of-15 faceoffs and collecting five ground balls.
The Seahawks, who were gunning for their first four-game winning streak in program history, fall to 4-4 on the season while the River Hawks, who compete in the America East Conference, improve to 2-5.
Without the services of a host of players due to injury, including four starters from this season's opening-game lineup, Wagner fought gallantly in trying to overcome an 8-4 third-quarter deficit before falling short by one goal.
The River Hawks led 7-3 at halftime, maintained their four-goal lead at 8-4 early in the second half, and still held a seemingly comfortable 11-8 edge with just under 10 minutes to play.
Over the game's final eight minutes, however,
William McMenamin, who matched his twin brother Patrick's season-high six-goal effort vs. Manhattan (2/12), nearly willed Wagner to a comeback win by scoring three goals in the game's final 7:57.
With the Seahawks trailing by that 11-8 margin,
William McMenamin made it a two-goal game with a score after receiving a pass from sophomore
Aaron Denesevich (Egg Harbor, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) at the 7:57 mark.
With 3:41 left to play,
William McMenamin buried his fifth goal of the afternoon from point-blank range after scooping up a rebound off a shot by junior midfielder
Christian McCormick (Royerdord, PA/Spring-Ford), which had bounced off of goalie Grant Lardieri, to make it an 11-10 game.
After Matthew Balter put the River Hawks on top again by two goals at 12-10 with a tally at the 1:29 mark,
William McMenamin sank an unassisted goal with just 28 seconds left after scooping up his fifth ground ball of the day. UMass Lowell, however, was able to win the ensuing faceoff and run out the clock in holding on for the 12-11 win.
Freshman attackman
John Norton (Catonsville, MD/Mount Saint Joseph) and Denesevich, each seeing their most extended action of the season, contributed two points apiece with Norton's coming on a career-high two goals, while Denesevich's came on one goal and one assist.
The Seahawks' leading scorer on the year, sophomore attackman
Andrew Streilein (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape), contributed three points (1g, 2a), in addition to equaling
William McMenamin for a team-best five ground balls, while fellow sophomore attackman
Billy Martin (Huntington, NY/Huntington) added two points (1g, 1a).
Finishing with one point apiece were redshirt-junior attackman
Patrick McMenamin (1g) and freshman attackman
Kevin Gray (Shamong, NJ/Seneca). Freshman goalie
Matt Sefcik (Totawa, NJ/Morristown Beard School) came up with seven saves for the Seahawks while making his eight straight start in net.
Sean Tyrrell paced UMass Lowell with six points on four goals and two assists while Austin Lane (3g, 2a) and Balter (3g) added five and three points, respectively, while Lardieri was credited with 10 saves in goal. Michael Rouskas took all but one of the River Hawks' faceoffs in going 14-of-25 in the X.
UMass Lowell held slight edges in shots (33-31) and ground balls (33-30) while winning 15-of-26 faceoffs.
The Seahawks are back at it on Saturday, March 19 when they host the Hobart Statesmen in the Northeast Conference (NEC) opener for both teams.
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