The men’s lacrosse team moved into a tie atop the NESCAC standings with a gutsy 7-5 victory at Trinity on Wednesday. The win, Wesleyan’s ninth straight over the Bantams, moved the Cardinals to 6-1 in league play, tied with Middlebury for first place. The two teams will meet on Saturday in a game with enormous ramifications.
Forced to play without leading scorer Russ Follansbee ’09, who served a one-game suspension as a result of an on-field altercation Saturday against Colby, the Cardinals had five different players score (with no one scoring more than twice) as they showed the depth that has consistently kept them among the NESCAC’s elite. After a scoreless first ten minutes, Wesleyan jumped on the board first as quint-captain Chris Jasinski ’08 scored off a feed from Lonny Blumenthal ’10 with 4:58 left in the first quarter. Trinity answered back a minute later, but Dan Latzman ’09 and Blumenthal added unassisted tallies in the second quarter for a 3-1 halftime lead for the Cardinals.
The Bantams scored a pair of unassisted goals to tie the game at 3-3 with 9:52 left in the third quarter, but the Cardinals reeled off four straight scores—with two coming from quint-captain Grayson Connors ’08, who increased his team-leading total to 26—to take a 7-3 lead with 12:56 left in the game. Trinity scored twice to halve the deficit with 7:35 to go, but the Cardinals again employed an efficient ball-control offense to keep the Bantams from getting any closer.
The game was a stark contrast to last year’s battle in Middletown, an 18-8 Wesleyan victory in which the Cardinals held leads of 6-0, 9-1, and 18-6. Latzman believes the strength and unpredictability of the NESCAC this season makes previous outcomes largely irrelevant.
“I think every NESCAC game is a battle,” Latzman said. “Regardless of what has happened in past seasons, the outcome is up in the air. It’s all about who shows up and performs. We know we can match up with any team in the country, we just have to play as well as we know we can always.”
Latzman also noted that Trinity’s slow, deliberate offense helped prevent the game from turning into a shootout.
“Trinity also slowed the game down a lot by holding on to the ball for extended periods of time,” he said. “This kept our offense off the field and the game close.”
Perhaps the most impressive part of the win was that the Cardinals were able to pull it off without Follansbee, who began the week as the NESCAC’s leading scorer. Latzman referenced the team’s depth as a key factor in the Cardinals’ ability to weather Follansbee’s temporary absence.
“Anytime you lose an All-American stud like Russ, the offense clearly takes a hit,” Latzman said. “We are filled with playmakers, though, and when someone goes down, there is always someone else waiting to step up.”
The Cardinals are now preparing for a Saturday showdown with Middlebury that could decide the NESCAC regular-season champion. A Wesleyan win would move the Cardinals to 7-1 and allow them to clinch the NESCAC’s top overall seed. If the Cardinals lose, however, there still exists a chance of a three-way tie among Wesleyan, Middlebury and Tufts; the tiebreaker would come down to the order of the teams below the big three.
Last season, Wesleyan defeated Middlebury twice, including a 13-9 home win in the second round of the NCAA tournament (a game in which the Cardinals led 13-4). Wesleyan has won the last two regular-season meetings against the Panthers (both of which were played at Middlebury), including a 5-4 overtime win last season. Saturday’s game begins at 1 p.m. and will be webcast as the Cardinals aim to bring the NESCAC tournament to Middletown for the first time.
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