BOSTON, Mass. – Senior attackman Zac Blue (Monticello, Minn.) scored four goals and freshman midfielder Jeremy Nelson (West Chester, Pa.) and senior midfielder Dan Utz (Rochester, N.Y.) each added three more as the Gordon College men's lacrosse team held on for a 12-11 win over Wentworth in a The Commonwealth Coast Conference contest at Sweeney Field.
The Fighting Scots scored a pair of goals in a span of 1:45 as junior midfielder Wes Chittick (Glenside, Pa.) and Nelson tallied for the visitors. The Leopards pulled to 2-1 on a sophomore midfielder Mark Pappas (Worcester, Mass.) goal with 5:06 left in the quarter. Junior midfielder Adam Quinn (Gloucester, Mass.) scored with 3:21 left to put Gordon ahead 3-1 before senior attackman Chris Guilherme (Derry, N.H.) closed out the first period scoring with a goal with 1:50 left.
Wentworth took a 4-3 lead in the second quarter as sophomore midfielder Greg Ordway (Freeport, Maine) and Pappas scored less than two minutes apart. The Fighting Scots came back to tie the game at 4-all on an Utz goal and took a 5-4 lead on Blue's first marker of the contest. With 1:08 left in the half Pappas fed Guilherme to tie the game at 5-all.
Utz opened the second half scoring with a pair of goals 1:21 apart before freshman attackman Jeff Guilherme (Derry, N.H.) and Chris Guilherme scored to knot the game at 7-all. Blue scored twice and Nelson added a goal – all in a span of 57 seconds – to put the visitors ahead, 10-7, after three quarters.
A minute 39 into the final stanza Ordway scored to pull the Leopards within a pair at 10-8 before Nelson and Blue gave Gordon a 12-8 lead with 8:37 remaining in the contest. Wentworth would not go quietly, though, as with 4:18 left freshman midfielder Christopher Kipp (Sanford, Maine) scored and 1:12 later fed senior attackman Matt Cox (Granger, Ind.) making it a 12-10 game.
With 1:59 remaining, Jeff Guilherme cut the lead to one at 12-11. The Leopards won the ensuing faceoff and would hold the ball until calling a timeout with 49 seconds left. With 31.4 seconds left the Leopards had a shot attempt go wide, but the Fighting Scots were closer to the ball before it went out of bounds, giving the visitors possession. A Wentworth penalty led to a successful clear and Gordon ran out the clock.
In addition to his three goals, Utz added an assist, while Quinn had a goal and three assists. Senior defender Stuart Knechtle (New Canaan, Conn.) collected a game-high 13 ground balls while sophomore midfielder Chris McLaughlin (Garden City, N.Y.) won 11 of 19 faceoffs.
Chris Guilherme scored three times for Wentworth, who also got two-goal games from Jeff Guilherme, Pappas, and Ordway. Junior midfielder Justin Connors (Richboro, Pa.) added three assists, while sophomore midfielder Mike Sharpe (Needham, Mass.) had a team-high eight ground balls.
Sophomore Houston Zemanski (Annapolis, Md.) made seven saves to pick up the win while freshman Jeff Bathalon (Maynard, Mass.) made 15 saves in the loss.
With the win Gordon improves to 7-5 overall and 6-1 in TCCC play. Wentworth falls to 1-7 (0-7). Both teams are back in action on Saturday with Gordon hosting Endicott and Wentworth traveling to the University of New England.
