Springfield, Mass. – March 6, 2024 – The Springfield College men's lacrosse team fell to No. 15 nationally-ranked Amherst College by a 16-6 final on Wednesday evening on Stagg Field.

Amherst evened out its record at 1-1, while Springfield dropped its fourth straight and is now 0-4 this year.

Mason Nocito (Mahopac, N.Y.) registered three of Springfield's six goals on the night, while Jake Degnan (Mahopac, N.Y.), Matt Webb (Northport, N.Y.) and Bryan Stensrud (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) all found the back of the net once for the Pride. Connor Roberts (Somers, Conn.) paced the Pride with six ground balls and two caused turnovers. Amherst was guided offensively by Jake Bennett, who notched five goals for the visitors.

Nocito got Springfield on the board first just 26-seconds into the game on an unassisted strike and doubled the Pride's advantage a few minutes later off a feed by Zach Barden (Swampscott, Mass.). Matthew Sheinberg posted Amherst's first goal with 2:01 left in the opening period as the score stood at 2-1 through one.

Degnan scored on the man-advantage for a 3-1 edge 19-seconds into the second before Amherst tallied the final four goals of the half to take a 5-3 lead into the break. Webb scored first for the Pride in the third to cut the deficit to just one, but the Mammoths ripped off ten straight goals – a run that stretch well into the fourth for a 15-4 lead. Nocito completed the hat trick for Springfield with 2:57 remaining into the contest and Stensrud scored his first collegiate goal off a pass from Jackson Lane (Shrewsbury, Mass.) to account for the 16-6 final.

Amherst held a 56-40 advantage in shots and a 38-25 differential in ground balls. The Mammoths also won 17-of-26 face-offs and were successful on the clear 27-of-31 times. Springfield went 26-for-27 in transition and 1-for-5 on the man-advantage.

Springfield keeper Kaden Quirk (Nahant, Mass.) tied his career-high with 17 saves in net for the Pride.

Springfield will return to action on Saturday, March 9 with a trip to Endicott College at 12:00 pm.

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