Madison, NJ – Freshman attacker Dominic Branda (Ringwood, NJ / Don Bosco Prep) tallied a career-high three goals, junior attackman Andrew Streilein (Mt. Laurel, NJ / Lenape) recorded a game-high four points on one goal and three assists, and the Wagner defense did the rest as the Seahawks earned an 11-4 win over NJIT.
 
In gaining the victory in their final non-conference contest of the season, the Seahawks improve to 5-5 on the season while the Highlanders, who are a third-year Division I program, fall to 0-10. The Wagner-NJIT contest was held at Drew University's Ranger Stadium which is where the Highlanders are playing all of their home games this season due to renovations on their Newark-based campus.
 
The Green & White, who improve to a perfect 3-0 all-time vs. NJIT, now embark on a regular season-ending stretch of five straight NEC games, beginning with a home meeting with Bryant on Saturday, April 1. Faceoff between the Seahawks and the Bulldogs at Hameline Field is set for 1:00 p.m.
 
Junior midfielder JP Pawela recorded three points on the evening with two goals and one assist to go with two caused turnovers and one groundall. (Montgomery Village, MD / St. John's College). Both of Pawela's goals came in the first half as he tallied Wagner's first score of the game off a Streilein assist midway which knotted the game at 1-1 midway through the first quarter.
 
Pawela's second goal capped the first-half scoring as he whistled an unassisted score past NJIT goalie Cameron Cronk at the 3:11 mark of the second quarter to make it a 4-2 game at the intermission. The Seahawks went ahead 5-2 with 10:50 left in the third quarter on a goal by fifth-year senior midfielder William McMenamin (Longport, NJ / St. Augustine Prep) off a feed from Pawela. In addition to his one goal, William McMenamin contributed five groundballs and won 3-of-5 faceoffs on the evening.
 
With the Seahawks' dominating time of possession throughout the third quarter, the NJIT defense held tough until the 3:17 mark when junior attackman Joe Lomeli (Clark, NJ / A.L. Johnson) deposited a man-up goal off a pass from fifth-year senior midfielder Paul DeVita (Westfield, NJ / Westfield) that made it a 6-2 game, and the Seahawks never looked back.
 
Lomeli, a transfer from NJIT, has now scored a goal in each of the three meetings between the schools. While playing for the Highlanders as a freshman in the first-ever meeting between the schools in 2015, Lomeli scored one of NJIT's two goals in a 7-2 home loss to the Seahawks. Then, in last season's meeting on Staten Island, he scored two goals for NJIT in a 10-8 loss to the Seahawks.
 
Fifth-year senior attackman Patrick McMenamin (Longport, NJ / St. Augustine Prep) was a major factor in the Seahawk win tonight with two goals and two caused turnovers while senior midfielder Christian McCormick (Royersford, PA / Spring-Ford) added one goal for the visitors.
 
Junior Matt Sefcik (Towaco, NJ / Morristown Beard), who grew up some 15 miles north of the Drew University campus, recorded three saves while yielding just three goals in the game's first 56:55 before giving way to Omar Alhagiko (Staten Island, NY / Curtis). The sophomore came on to make three saves while allowing one goal in a 3:05 stint between the pipes.
 
Aaron Foster paced NJIT with a hat trick and one assist, with one of his goals, and his one helper, coming via the behind-the-back variety.
 
Wagner held a commanding 41-21 edge in shots, led in groundballs, 33-29, and won 11-of-19 faceoffs.

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