Springfield, Mass. – March 30, 2024 – The Springfield College men's lacrosse team earned its first win of the 2024 campaign this afternoon as the Pride topped MIT, 13-10, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Stagg Field.

Springfield is now 1-8 overall and 1-2 in NEWMAC play, while MIT fell to 2-7, 1-2.

Springfield used a balanced attack as four different student-athletes registered two goals apiece. Bryan Stensrud (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) led the way with four assists in addition to his two goals, while Jake Degnan (Mahopac, N.Y.), Matt Webb (Northport, N.Y.) and Mason Nocito (Mahopac, N.Y.) all found the back of the net twice. Vincent Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) was dominant at the face-off X as he won 18-of-23 attempts and led the Pride with seven ground balls, while Nocito registered a team-best five caused turnovers.

Both teams traded goals to open the game as Degnan evened the game at 1-1 midway through the first Heath Nilson gave MIT a 2-1 edge through 15 minutes of play. The Pride outscored the Engineers by a 4-1 margin in the second as Stensrud began the scoring 49-seconds into the period before he fed the ball to Brady Soldo (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Kevin Tierney (Glastonbury, Conn.) for a 5-3 advantage at the break. After MIT scored to even the game at three with 8:04 to play in the second, Webb's unassisted strike at 5:39 gave Springfield a lead it wouldn't relinquish for the remainder of the game.

As the two teams did in the first, both MIT and Springfield traded markers to open the third before a strike on the man-advantage by Nick Savastano (South Salem, N.Y.) pushed the Pride's lead to three at 8-5. With under two to play in the quarter, Nocito potted an unassisted goal past MIT keeper David Vapnek, when he finished a pass from Tierney on the man-advantage for Springfield's largest lead of the game at 10-6.

MIT answered with three straight goals wrapped around the third quarter break as Garrett Campagna notched his fourth goal of the game, while Zach Bleil and Nilson cut the deficit to just one at 10-9 with 12 minutes to play in regulation.

Less than a minute later, Webb ripped a shot past Vapnek that kick started a three goal run for Springfield that secured the win. Over the stretch, Stensrud finished a pass from Gage Sperlonga (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and Jackson Lane (Shrewsbury, Mass.) found another insurance marker with three minutes to play to account for the 13-10 final.

As a team, Springfield out shot MIT, 40-35, went 19-for-21 on clearing attempts, held a 41-26 differential in ground balls, went 2-for-4 om the man-advantage and won 19-of-27 face-offs.

In goal, Kaden Quirk (Nahant, Mass.) earned his first win on Alden Street and made 11 saves marking the fifth time this season that the junior netminder has posted double-digit save totals.

Springfield will host non-conference rival Western New England University on Tuesday, April 2 at 7:00 pm on Stagg Field.

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