Pictured Above: Senior
John Norton (Photo By Bob Park)
Box Score
Staten Island, NY – After splitting its first two road games of the
Bill McCutcheon era, both in one-goal decisions, the Wagner men's lacrosse team received a three-goal, two-assist outing from senior attackman
John Norton, jumped out to a 4-1 start, and led most of the way before Lafayette came back to earn a 13-10 win in spoiling the Seahawks' home opener on Friday afternoon at Hameline Field.
With the loss, the Green & White fall to 1-2 on the young season while the Leopards, who are also led by a first-year head coach in Patrick Myers, improve to 2-1.
After Norton opened the scoring with a blast at the 11:52 mark of the first quarter off a feed from fellow senior attackman
Davis Prince, back-to-back goals by freshman midfielder
Stephen Dwyer had Wagner out to an early 3-0 lead that would be trimmed to 4-2 heading into the second period.
Second-quarter goals by junior attackman
Nic Ancona, Norton, and senior midfielder
Spencer Kaufman staked the Seahawks to a 7-4 lead midway through the quarter. After the Leopards responded with a 3-0 run to tie it at 7-7, Norton gave the Seahawks an 8-7 halftime lead with his third tally of the game, this one off a Branda assist, with just 13 seconds remaining before the break.
The teams traded goals to open the second half with Branda answering an unassisted goal by Lafayette's Bryan Hess with an unassisted score of his own to give Wagner a 9-8 lead with 8:22 to go in the third quarter.
This would be the Seahawks' last lead of the game, however, as Lafayette scored five unanswered goals, bridging the third and fourth quarters, in building a 13-9 lead. Branda finished the day's scoring with his second goal of the game with 27 seconds left to play, off a Prince assist, to fashion the final score at 13-10.
Lafayette held the edge in shots (40-31), ground balls (33-25) and faceoffs (13-12) in this wildly entertaining, fast-paced, and physical game that saw the teams combine for 10 penalties, six on the Leopards and four on the Seahawks.
Ancona wound up with four points (2g, 2a) on the afternoon while Branda added three (2g, 1a). Dwyer finished with two goals, Kaufman with one, and Prince was the Seahawks' top playmaker, dishing out a team-best three assists. In goal, senior
Matt Sefcik recorded 12 saves.
Wagner was 2-of-6 in extra-man opportunities while Lafayette was 1-of-4. The Seahawks turned the ball over 17 times while forcing 12 turnovers of their own.
Lafayette was led by Hess' four points (3g, 1a), while Andrew Robbins and Connar Dehnert added hat tricks as well. Others who registered points for the Leopards included Conor Walters (1g, 2a), Cole Dutton (1g, 1a), Ryan Kirkwood (1g), and Chris Adamo (1g).
After playing three games in a 13-day span, Wagner now has an 11-day break between contests as the Seahawks are next in action at Monmouth on February 26 as McCutcheon goes up against the team where he served as a longtime assistant coach before taking over the reigns of the Wagner program.
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