CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Using a 6-2 run in the second quarter the MIT men's lacrosse team erased a 4-3 deficit and took the lead for good as the Engineers claimed a 14-9 victory over Wentworth Institute of Technology in a non-conference contest played at Jack Barry Field.
MIT evens its second at 2-2 while the Leopards suffer their first defeat (3-1).
Three goals in a span of 64 seconds gave the Leopards a 3-0 lead as senior Mike Coakley (Flemington, N.J.) and freshmen Mark Howland (Lititz, Pa.) and Kyle Doner (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) provided the offense. MIT evened the score at 3-all with 5:45 left in the quarter, thanks to two goals from Mitch Turley and one from Jack Strachan.
Howland opened the second quarter by scoring a goal 29 seconds in off a pass from junior Kevin Butler (Jefferson, Mass.). However, the Engineers began their run with three straight markers and took a 6-4 lead on a goal from Turley with 10:23 remaining. Doner and freshman Riley Smith (Plaistow, N.H.) scored 1:13 apart from each other to even the score but NIT countered with three straight to take a 9-6 lead with 44 ticks left in the half. Sophomore Spencer Allen (New Boston, N.H.) closed the gap to 9-7 when he scored from senior Sean Farmer (Billerica, Mass.) 17 seconds later.
MIT scored the only two goals of the third quarter to make it an 11-7 game, however the Leopards opened with the fourth quarter by scoring two of the three goals as sophomore Jason Buck (Manlius, N.Y.) and Doner each added man-up markers. Two goals from the Engineers' Graham Davis completed the scoring and lifted the hosts to victory.
Doner finished with three goals and scooped up three ground balls. Howland had a pair of goals, three ground balls, and two caused turnovers. Butler had three helpers on the afternoon. Sophomore Kilian Ryan (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) scooped up five ground balls to go along with causing two turnovers.
Junior Adam Dufault (Lexington, Mass.) made 11 saves in the loss for the Leopards who were outshot 40-30 and lost both the ground ball (40-30) and face off (17-9) battle. The Leopards were 3-for-5 in man-up situations and kept MIT off the board in four shorthanded situations.
Wentworth hosts St. Joseph's (Maine) on Saturday.
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