CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – In a men's lacrosse game that saw four ties and four lead changes it was MIT that came out on top, holding the Wentworth Institute of Technology scoreless in the fourth quarter while scoring a pair of its own goals to take a 9-6 victory. Freshman Jake Slonaker (West Windsor, N.J.) scored four goals for the Engineers, while sophomore Steve Glover (Marstons Mills, Mass.) tallied a pair to lead the Leopards.
Slonaker opened the scoring with an unassisted score just seven seconds into the contest after a faceoff win by junior Mike Gibson (Natick, Mass.). A minute later junior Gabe Blanchet (Hadley, Mass.) took a pass from freshman Bill Kelleher (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and found the back of the net for a 2-0 MIT lead.
Wentworth (1-2) then struck back with three unanswered goals over a 10-minutes span. Glover notched his first at the 11:34 mark before the Leopard goalie, junior Jared Proulx (Nashua, N.H.), cleared the ball on his own and put a shot past his counterpart to tie the game. Proulx then assisted on the next Wentworth score, Glover's second of the game, with 1:16 left in the first quarter to give the Leopards their first lead of the game.
MIT (2-1) countered just seconds later when Blanchet notched his second of the game, but junior Mark Pappas (Worcester, Mass.) gave Wentworth the lead again off an assist from junior Tyler Forthofer (Glastonbury, Conn.) with just 12 seconds left in the first.
After the seven-goal first quarter, the defenses took over in the second as only one score was put up on the board. That came off the stick of Slonaker, who tied it up at the 6:49 mark of the quarter.
In the third MIT went up early on a score from junior Sean Burke (Centennial, Colo.), but consecutive goals from sophomore Chris Kipp (Scarborough, Maine) and freshman Michael Cushera (Waltham, Mass.) put Wentworth back on top.
Slonaker then came up big in the final four minutes of the third for MIT. His unassisted score at the 4:22 mark tied the game, and with MIT facing its first man-down situation of the game in the final minute of the quarter he scored again to put MIT up for good. After a Wentworth shot was knocked down, MIT was able to clear the ball and sophomore Elliot Sykora (Wilmette, Ill.) was able to find Slonaker for what proved to be the winning goal.
MIT's defense turned it up a notch in the final quarter, holding Wentworth scoreless again as the Leopards committed nine turnovers while junior Christopher Rullan (Wexford, Pa.) made four save in goal to preserve the MIT advantage. Burke and Gibson added insurance goals for the Engineers.
Rullan and Gibson each picked up eight ground balls to lead MIT, while Proulx also had eight for Wentworth.
MIT will play its next game in Florida on a spring break trip, taking on the University of Tampa at 7:00 p.m. on March 25. Wentworth will host Plymouth State on March 22 at 5:00 p.m.
(Release Courtesy of MIT Sports Information)
