BOSTON, Mass. – The second-seeded Wentworth Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team, making their second straight appearance in the Conference of New England's semifinal round, punched their ticket to their first-ever conference championship with a thrilling 15-11 win over the third-seeded Hartford Hawks on Wednesday night.
The Leopards advance to the CNE Championship with a 14-4 overall mark. The Hawks see their season come to a close at 10-7 overall.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- After the Hawks opened the scoring at the 12:40 mark of the opening frame, Gabe Cobham struck for the Leopards just 38 seconds later to knot the score. Hartford responded with two goals, giving themselves a 3-1 lead by the 9:22 mark, before a Kobi Buffa tally marked an end to the run at the 8:31 mark. Aidan Kemp pushed the Hawks' advantage to 4-2 with just over six minutes left in the quarter, but Cobham ripped a shot to the twine as time expired to mark a 4-3 game.
- Cobham knotted the contest at four aside just 41 seconds into the second quarter before Hartford added two to give themselves a 6-4 lead by the 9:16 mark. Wentworth responded with a 3-0 run, featuring two goals by Erik Vogt, over a span of 5:01 to hold a 7-6 edge at the break.
- The Black & Gold dominated the third quarter, rattling off a 6-1 run over an 11:33 span to take a 13-7 advantage. Six different goal-scorers (Buffa, Vogt, Cobham, Drew Bouley, Brendan Kroll, Tyler Longo) factored into the run.
- The Hawks clawed back in the fourth, scoring three in a span of 4:43 to cut their deficit to 13-10 by the 9:56 mark. The Leopards added insurance markers a minute apart in the late going with Longo and Bouley giving the hosts a 15-10 lead by the 2:09 mark.
- Between the pipes, Tom Gardner made 17 saves and scooped up a pair of ground balls. At the X, Connor Charron went 13-for-24 with three ground balls before Liam Martin finished the night out, going 3-for-5.
NOTEWORTHY:
- With the win, the Black & Gold notched their winningest season in program history, besting out their 13-win campaign a season ago.
- With their 15 goals tonight, the Leopards have now tallied the most goals and most assists in any one season in program history.
- Dryden Fisher played in his 71st contest tonight, marking the single most appearances by a Leopard in program history.
- With his two assists tonight, Longo now has the second-most assists all-time in program history with 86.
- Bouley now sits three points shy of being third all-time in career points (currently at 172).
SERIES NOTES:
- Tonight marked the third all-time meeting between the two teams, with the two squads needing overtime in their previous two matchups.
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