Springfield, Mass. - May 4, 2016 - The Springfield College men's lacrosse team powered past Wheaton College, 17-3, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Semifinals on Wednesday night at Stagg Field.

Springfield will take on Babson in the NEWMAC Championship on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm, marking the fourth-straight season that the league title will come down to these two programs.

Kevin Dean (Westhampton, N.Y.) was outstanding in the win, as he tallied a career-best eight points on five goals and three assists.  Dylan Sheehan (Massapequa, N.Y.) added a six-point outing which included four assists, and Ty Daugstrup (Rocky River, Ohio) chipped in two goals and an assist. Jake Reynolds (Scituate, Mass.) continued his strong play between the pipes, totaling 11 saves, and Jake Versprille (Franklin, Mass.) picked up a game-high five ground balls.

Springfield dominated every statistical category in the win, owning a 57-25 edge in shots, a 42-19 cushion in ground balls, and won 17-of-24 from the face-off "X".

Ryan Clair (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) was solid in cage for the Lyons, notching 17 saves in the setback, while Brian Teague (Cross River, N.Y.) tallied two goals and Ryan Gjerset (Austin, Texas) handed out two helpers.

Wheaton opened up the scoring with a bounce shot from Zachardy Brode (Boulder, Colo.) and an inside finish from Teague, which put the visitors ahead by a pair just 3:14 into the contest.

However, Springfield responded with the next four goals to take a 4-2 cushion after 15 minutes of play.  Tony LaGuerre (Shrub Oak, N.Y.) opened the scoring at the 7:34 mark before Dean skimmed a low shot from 10 yards out off a look from to even things at 2-2.  Tom Hurley (Goffstown, N.H.) got free on a an inside roll dodge along the crease to put the Pride ahead for good with 3:15 on the clock before Sheehan buried a shot for Springfield's fourth-straight marker to give the hosts a 4-2 lead after one quarter of play.

Sheehan netted the Pride's first goal of the second quarter with 6:20 on the clock when he found the right corner on a bounce shot.  Springfield's ride paid off en route to its sixth goal as Daugstrup caused a turnover at midfield, setting up a Dean goal from Hurley in transition at the 3:47 mark.  The hosts went into the locker room with a 7-2 lead on a highlight reel goal from Brendan Dooley (Setauket, N.Y.), who shook his man goal-line extended and stung a corner with 38 ticks left.

In the third quarter, Dooley stung the corner just 16 seconds in to set the tone as the Pride outscored the visitors 5-0 in the frame.  Daugstrup added two goals in the stanza, while Dean delivered a man-up strike from Hurley with 18 seconds left.

Springfield poured on the first five goals of the fourth quarter to push its scoring run to 17 unanswered goals as goals from Maxwell Abendroth (Sunapee, N.H.), Tim Cozens (Ridgfield, Conn.), Dean, LaGuerre, and Jesse Freedman (Granby, Conn.) gave the Pride a 17-2 edge.  Teague closed out the scoring with Wheaton's first goal in over 56 minutes as he found the back of the net in the final seconds.