MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Wheaton College men's lacrosse team got off to a hot start, but Eastern Connecticut State University countered with a hotter finish, scoring five consecutive goals late in the game to emerge from a contest that was tight from start to finish in a well-earned 12-9  non-conference victory Wednesday evening at Rick McCarthy Field.
 
A loser of two straight entering the game and two of its last three in the series against Wheaton (5-7), Eastern (4-6) got the tying goal in the final ten seconds of the third quarter from sophomore Quinn O'Connor (Glastonbury) and the go-ahead goal from senior Garrett Lapham (Trumbull) to win its second home contest in as many tries this season.
 
A loser of six of its previous seven entering play, Wheaton scored goals on its first two shots on its first two possessions but it was the largest lead of the evening for the Lyons in a match which featured six ties and five lead changes.
 
Junior faceoff specialist Scott Galbo (East Lyme) enjoyed his second-best faceoff performance of the season at the X, winning 14 of 22, including 11 of 14 in the second half when the Warriors outscored (8-5) and outshot (20-13) the Lyons.
 
Another significant key to the win was Eastern's ability to kill off all four of Wheaton's extra-man opportunities, two of which came just over two minutes apart midway through the fourth quarter. The Warriors were able to kill off the first one when senior long-stick Domenic Scarano (Berlin) knocked loose the ball which was picked up by senior defenseman Ryan Stocks (Longmeadow, MA) and allowed Eastern to maintain possession and kill off the penalty. On the second man-up opportunity, Wheaton was guilty of an unforced turnover, Eastern cleared the ball, and junior Zacharie Appolon (Stamford) potted his first goal since the first quarter that made it 11-8 with five minutes left.
 
Three times, Eastern trailed by a goal, and each time bounced back to tie the game. Appolon's consecutive goal less than two minutes apart in the first quarter highlighted a quick run of four consecutive goals that turned its early 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead. Early in the third, senior Jonathan Bernier (Somers) tied the game for the third time, 5-5, and O'Connor's strike with seven seconds left in the third tied the match for the fifth and final time and ignited the decisive run of five consecutive goals that made it a four-goal game with 3:31 left and all but sealed the victory.
 
Senior goalie Nick Collazo (Park Ridge, NJ) made seven saves – five in the second half. Scarano led Eastern with seven ground balls and three caused turnovers, Galbo winning five ground balls and Stocks four.
 
With Eastern playing without second-leading scorer Warren Channing (Glastonbury) – a first-year player -- Appolon and Lapham each had three goals. Appolon gave the Warriors their early spark after they fell back early, and Lapham connected for two of his during the 5-0 scoring run that provided the win. Leading scorer Brycen Kennedy (Southington) had two goals and two assists, giving him 19 goals and nine assists in ten games. Kennedy assisted on the only extra-man goal of the game when he fed Lapham two minutes into the second quarter that gave Eastern its only two-goal lead through the opening two minutes of the fourth quarter.
 
Faceoff man Charlie Racine of Wheaton led both teams with four goals and won six of his eight faceoffs with ground balls; Mike McLaughlin had four assists and a goal and defenseman Jacob Wharton picked up eight ground balls and caused three turnovers.
 
Eastern returns to Little East Conference play Saturday at 11 a.m. at Plymouth State University.  The Warriors split their first two LEC games – defeating Salem State University and losing to Keene State College – while Plymouth has dropped its opening LEC pair against top conference opponents UMass Boston and Western Connecticut. Plymouth eliminated Eastern in the first round of the 2021 LEC playoffs, 10-6, at McCarthy Field.