Springfield, Mass. - March 29, 2022 - The Springfield College men's lacrosse team was defeated by visiting Middlebury College, 12-6, in non-conference play on Stagg Field on Tuesday. 

The Panthers now stand at 4-3 on the season with the victory, while Springfield falls to 3-6. 

Dean Pesce (Monroe, N.Y.) got the start in goal and made 20 saves for the Pride. Steven Betsch (Port Washington, N.Y.) went 13-for-22 from the face-off "X" and snagged nine ground balls, while Connor Roberts (Somers, Conn.) grabbed five ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers.  In a relatively clean game where there were no penalties, the visitors held a slight 48-41 edge in shots. 

Middlebury's Jack Sheehan put together a seven-point performance fueled by six goals and Finn O'Connor made 16 saves between the pipes. 

After Middlebury struck for the game's first goal at 13:55, the Pride answered with a pair of quick markers, as Riley Burgmyer (Somers, Conn.) stuck in a rebound at 12:04 before Betsch won the ensuing face-off clean and found the back of the cage four seconds later.

The visitors would close out the frame with the next three goals, getting all three strikes in a 1:58 span to open up a 4-2 cushion after 15 minutes of play.  Each goalie played especially well in the frame, as the duo combined 17 saves. 

The Panthers lead ballooned to 5-2 when Sheehan got free down the right alley for his third marker of the game with 5:55 remaining in the second half.  The Pride would make it a 5-3 contest with 2:00 on the clock when Mason Nocito (Massapequa, N.Y.) stepped into a shot from 15 yards out, only to have Middlebury tack on their sixth goal of the game with 55 ticks left in the half to push their halftime lead to 6-3.

Nocito found Roberts in front of the crease just 26 seconds into the third quarter to pull the Pride within 6-4, but the Panthers would string together four-unanswered goals to end the quarter as the spurt was bookended by a pair of strikes from Sheehan. 

After only have eight turnovers through the first three quarters, the Pride matched that total in the final 15 minutes of play.  Springfield would get goals from Nocito and Zac Schuette (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) bring its deficit 10-6 with 8:44 left in regulation, but Sheehan drilled his sixth of the game inside five minutes and the visitors netted the game's final goal with 1:54 left to complete the scoring.  

On Saturday, Springfield will travel to Babson for a NEWMAC clash beginning at 12 pm. 

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