Last season, the men’s lacrosse team had four attackmen score a combined 118 goals and also boasted one of the country’s top defenses, led by Spike Malangone ’09, who earned second-team All-American laurels. All five of these players are back this season.
The team, which set a school record for wins when it finished 18-3 at the 2007 NCAA semifinals, returns four of its top five goal scorers from 2007: Jason Ben-Eliyahu ’09, Grayson Connors ’08, Russ Follansbee ’09, and Jon Killeen ’10.
Additionally, Malangone, who head coach John Raba referred to as “one of the most feared defenders in the country” in an alumni newsletter, returns to continue to terrorize opposing offenses.
The Cardinals entered the season ranked sixth in the Division III and first in the NESCAC in the Inside Lacrosse preseason poll. However, Raba, in a preseason interview, noted that the team was well aware that the high ranking was based on its previous accomplishments, and this year’s squad had yet to prove itself.
“We’ve definitely talked to our guys about all those rankings, especially the preseason [ones]. All are based on last year’s team, and what we’ve done in the past,” said Raba. “We don’t put any pressure [on the team]. We don’t talk about that, ever. We just want to survive in the conference. That’s what it comes down to.”
So far, the team appears well on its way to repeating the success of seasons past. The Cardinals opened the season with a 19-2 win over Babson on March 8. With the score tied 1-1, Wesleyan scored 15 straight goals to move out to a 16-1 edge with 12 minutes left in the game. Babson scored one minute later, but Wesleyan added three more goals, the last coming with about six minutes left, for the comfortable win.
The Cardinals limited Babson to 19 shots (and just seven on goal) while launching 43 shots (35 on goal) themselves. Connors led all scorers with four goals, and Follansbee, Ben-Eliyahu, and Chris Jasinski ’08 added three each. In addition, Malangone led the team with six ground balls as the Cardinals enjoyed a 44-31 edge.
On March 10, Wesleyan traveled to Endicott looking for its eighth straight win against the Gulls. Wesleyan had defeated Endicott 9-6 in the inaugural game of the 2007 season, but this time the Gulls, ranked 16th in the country at the time, turned the tables and earned a 6-5 overtime win. The Cardinals led 5-3 in the fourth period, but Endicott scored twice—with the second goal coming with one minute left in the game—to send the game into overtime. Wesleyan entered the game 17-1 in overtime under Raba, but the Gulls scored with 55 seconds remaining in the extra period for the win.
Wesleyan won just four of 15 faceoffs of the afternoon, and Endicott enjoyed a 40-34 advantage in shots and a 43-27 advantage in ground balls. The game marked Wesleyan’s first road loss since the 2006 national semifinal, a 7-6 overtime defeat at Cortland State.
The Cardinals did not play again until March 18, when they took on Nazareth in Sanford, Fla. The teams previously met in the 2007 national quarterfinals, with Wesleyan coming away with a 9-6 win. In that game, Wesleyan jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first half. Nazareth did the honors this time, going ahead 4-1 with about five minutes left in the first period. The Cardinals closed the deficit to 4-3 at halftime and 5-4 in the third, but Nazareth scored three straight goals for an 8-4 cushion. The Cardinals got a man-up goal from Lonny Blumenthal ’10 with ten minutes left in the game, but got no closer as the Golden Flyers held on for the 8-5 win.
The loss dropped the Cardinals to 1-2 for the year, the team’s first losing record since March 15, 2000 (0-1). In addition, Wesleyan’s next game was against fifth-ranked Tufts, the only NESCAC team to defeat the Cardinals in the 2007 regular season.
In the teams’ previous meeting, the Jumbos outshot Wesleyan 36-35 and won 13 of 19 faceoffs in a 9-6 win. Wesleyan had led 4-2 at halftime, but the Jumbos scored five straight goals and led the rest of the way.
This year, the Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Killeen and Ben-Eliyahu scored just 46 seconds apart in the opening period. Following a Tufts man-up goal, the Cardinals reeled off 10 straight goals to go up 12-1 with over five minutes left in the third period. The Jumbos added three goals in the fourth period to make the final score 12-4 in favor of Wesleyan.
Wesleyan outshot the Jumbos 41-15 and held a 33-19 advantage in ground balls. The Cardinals also won 12 of 20 faceoffs and succeeded on 23 of 25 clears. The win was Wesleyan’s first in its NESCAC opener since 2003, when the Cardinals defeated Bates, 7-6 (their last win over the Bobcats until last season).
Midfielder Dan Latzman ’09 noted that the team was well aware of the significance of the game, but the Cardinals are still far from establishing themselves as the team to beat in the NESCAC.
“We have to get out to a good start [this season], and everyone knew it was a huge game,” Latzman said.
He added, though, that Wesleyan did not view it as a statement game.
“I’d say Middlebury is the team to beat; they’ve won [the NESCAC tournament] every year,” he said. “No matter how far we get, they beat us every year. It was definitely huge to get the Tufts win, but it wasn’t that big of a statement.”
The Cardinals kept the momentum going with an 8-2 win over the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Tuesday night. With the teams tied 1-1 in the first, Wesleyan reeled off seven straight goals to go ahead 8-1 with 8:55 left in the third period. The Mariners scored the game’s last goal with 17 seconds remaining in the third.
The Mariners held a 23-5 advantage in shots in the second half and 35-23 for the game, but only 16 of the Mariners’ 35 shots were on goal (compared to 18 for Wesleyan). Merchant Marine also won only one of the game’s 14 faceoffs.
Things don’t get any easier for the Cardinals this weekend, as 19th-ranked Bowdoin comes to town on Saturday. Wesleyan, currently ranked 11th nationally, defeated the Polar Bears twice last year, with both wins coming by 7-3 scores. With four teams currently nationally ranked, the NESCAC is looking as strong as ever, and the Cardinals know every conference win is huge.
“We watched Bowdoin play down in Florida, and they were very impressive,” Latzman said. “It’ll be tough, [but] they haven’t beaten us in…three years. Every game is a grind, basically.”
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