Springfield, Mass. - April 25, 2015 - Senior attackman Dylan Sheehan (Massapequa, N.Y.) erupted for six points, including five goals and one assist, as the Springfield College men's lacrosse program defeated MIT, 13-9, on Saturday afternoon at Stagg Field.

With the win, Springfield improves to 9-7 overall and 6-1 in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) and clinches the No. 2 seed in the upcoming conference tournament and will face MIT on Wednesday, April 29 on Stagg Field at 7 p.m.

Along with Sheehan's six points, junior attackman Brendan Boss (West Springfield, Mass.), senior attackman Kevin Sainte (Belmont, Mass.) and senior midfielder Bryce Serriello (Cape Cod, Mass.) all registered three points apiece in the victory. In between the pipes, sophomore goalkeeper Chris Santaniello (West Springfield, Mass.) posted a game-high 13 saves on the afternoon, while Mark Gonzalez (Tolland, Conn.) dominated the face-off "x", going 21-for-26 and scooping up 15 ground balls.

For the Engineers, Chris Cook (Tully, N.Y.) and Michael Traub (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) each registered three points, as Cook tallied three goals, while Traub added a goal and two assists. In net, Eric Bartell (San Diego, Calif.) posted 12 saves in the loss.

The Pride also held the edge in groundballs, with a margin of 34-27, while also outshooting MIT 43-38 in the win.

Springfield struck first just 4:49 into the contest when Sheehan took a pass from Kevin Dean (Westhampton, N.Y.) on a man-up advantage and fired a shot past Bartell to give the Pride a 1-0 lead, before MIT pulled even with a goal from Paul Orrson (Baltimore, Md.) with a strike just 2:05 later.

On the ensuing face-off, Gonzalez picked up a ground ball and found Boss in transition to put the Pride back up one, before Dean found the back of the net on a man-up advantage to give the Pride a 3-1 lead with 5:19 left in the first.

Sheehan and Jamey Conley (Waltham, Mass.) would pump in a pair more for the Pride before the opening quarter ended to take a 5-1 lead.

MIT would scratch back into the contest with a pair of goals from Cook and Jonah Hessels (Laytonsville, Md.), before Springfield regained a three-goal lead at the 6:21 mark of the second quarter on Sheehan's third of the contest.

MIT would net a pair more to make it 6-5, after goals from Traub and Cook found the back of the net, before Dom Abate (Beverly, Mass.) dodged down the right alley and tucked a shot in the top right corner of the net to put the Pride up 7-5 heading into the halftime break.

It took the Engineers just 48 seconds to pull to within one in the second half, as Graham Davis (Crofton, Md.) score to make it 7-6, Springfield, before Serriello scored back-to-back goals, including a pretty shot on a feed from Sheehan to give Springfield a 9-6 lead with 4:20 left in the third.

After a goal from Mitch Turley (Westfield, Ind.) just 58 seconds later to cut MIT's deficit back to two, Sheehan took a pass from Brendan Dooley (Setauket, N.Y.) in transition and found twine to make it 10-7 heading into the final stanza.

MIT climbed back to within one with two goals 5:24 into the fourth quarter, as Cook and Orrson each struck, before Springfield would go on to score four unanswered goals, including markers from Abate, Sainte and Sheehan to seal the victory for the Pride, 13-9.

Wednesday will be the sixth time in the last seven years that Springfield will face MIT in the conference semifinals, as Springfield has won all six times, with the last being a 13-4 victory in 2013.