Pictured Above: Junior attackman John Norton (photo by Bob Park)

Easton, PA – The Wagner men's lacrosse team suffered a tough 8-7 double-overtime loss at Lafayette on Friday afternoon, despite a career-high three goals by junior attackman John Norton and three assists from senior attackman Andrew Streilein, which helped stake the Seahawks to a 7-5 lead before the Leopards rallied late.

With the loss, which comes on the heels of an impressive 11-5 season-opening win over Manhattan last Saturday, the Green & White fall to 1-1 on the season while the Leopards improve their season mark to 2-1.

In this close, back-and-forth contest that featured five ties and five lead changes, Lafayette opened the scoring before the teams alternated the next seven goals and were tied 4-4 at halftime. Norton had two of his three goals in the opening half while sophomore attackman Nic Ancona and senior attackman Joe Lomeli added one score apiece

The Seahawks took a 5-4 lead with 10:08 left in the third quarter on an unassisted tally by senior midfielder Aaron Denesevich. The defense then took over, as neither team could find the net the rest of the third quarter with Wagner taking that 5-4 lead into the fourth.

The Green & White struck quickly in the final stanza as freshman midfielder Hank Ontiveros won the faceoff and collected the ground ball before feeding ahead to junior midfielder Connor Davis, who deposited the goal, giving the Seahawks a 6-4 lead.

After Lafayette sliced the deficit to one goal at 6-5 with a score at the 11:44 mark of the fourth, Norton got back into the act, completing his hat trick off a Streilein assist at the 8:02 mark to again provide the Seahawks with a two-goal cushion at 7-5. With 5:30 left in regulation, Adam Close found the range to make it 7-6, and then, with just 2:44 left, Close sank his second straight score off a Conor Walters' assist, forging the game's fifth tie at 7-7.

Following a scoreless four-minute first overtime period, Lafayette's Will McCarthy collected a groundball off of teammate John Becker's winning faceoff, and darted down the field before delivering the game-winner just 12 seconds into the period, lifting  the Leopards to victory.

Junior goalie Matt Sefcik recorded 14 saves for the Seahawks and tied for team-high honors with four ground balls, matching the total recorded by senior defenseman Andrew Park and freshman defenseman Kyle Stofko. Park came up with a team-high three caused turnovers, giving him seven in the first two games of the year, while senior midfielder Rob Heffron was credited with two caused turnovers.

For Lafayette, Close and Walters tied for team-high scoring honors with each recording two goals and one assist on the afternoon. Jonathan Anastos gained the win in goal for the Leopards, recording seven saves in the process.

Statistically, Lafayette held the upper hand in shots (40-20) and faceoffs (12-9), while the Seahawks won the ground ball battle by a close 33-32 count.

Wagner was 1-of-4 in extra-man opportunities and the Seahawks did not commit a single penalty in the game, thus Lafayette was never able to gain an extra-man chance.

The Seahawks return to action on Wednesday, February 21 when they host the Monmouth University Hawks of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in a 3:00 p.m. start at Hameline Field.