Wesleyan University

         Gaining an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time, Wesleyan men's lacrosse took to the road Saturday, May 14 for a second-round contest against Springfield College, winner of the Pilgrim League.
          Wesleyan emerged with a 10-7 victory after recovering from a 7-2 deficit in the second half. Trailing by five with 13:03 left in the third period, the Cardinals held the Pride scoreless for the final 28 minutes of the game while scoring eight unanswered goals. Both Chris Knacke and Glenn Adams netted two goals during the run with Adams' goal at the 4:24 mark of the fourth period proving to be the game-winner. That gave Wesleyan its first lead, 8-7. Adams added the insurance goal at 1:46 and Jeff McLaren tallied 24 seconds later for the final margin.
         Moving on to the national quarter-finals, Wesleyan faced NESCAC rival Middlebury for the third time this season. The first was a 15-7 Panther win in a regular-season game and the second, a 9-5 Middlebury triumph in the NESCAC title game. This time, Middlebury, which went on to lose by a goal to Salisbury in the NCAA championship game, prevailed, 11-8. Wesleyan led 7-6 late in the third period after trailing 6-3 at halftime. Four straight Cardinal tallies off the sticks of Chris Knacke, Jordan Funt, Mike Walsh and Chris Meade spotted the visitors a 7-6 edge with 5:39 to go in the third frame. But Middlebury netted a pair of goals before the end of the stanza to lead 8-7 heading into the final 15 minutes. Dave Leach gave the homestanders a 9-7 lead in the opening minute. Meade drew Wesleyan within a goal at 11:49 but that was as close as the Cardinals would get and Middlebury scored twice, at 9:09 and 6:55, to lock up the victory.
         Wesleyan finished the year with a 13-6 mark. Glenn Adams and Paul Malangone both received All-America honors from the USILA as Adams was a second-team choice as a midfielder and Malangone was an honorable-mention selection on defense.

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FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION: Wesleyan defeated Muhlenberg, 3-2 in overtime, in the first-round game. Freshman Matt Nevin led Wesleyan with two goals and an assist. His game-winner came 3:18 into overtime as he picked up a misplayed ball on the left side, drew out the goalie and put a 15-yard shot from a sharp angle into an open net. Wesleyan advanced to the second round against defending national champion Messiah, dropping a 2-1 decision in overtime. Nevin spotted the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the 55th minute for his team-leading ninth goal of the season. The lead lasted 9:55, the longest Messiah has trailed an opponent all season, and the game entered overtime knotted at 1-1. Messiah scored 5:31 into the extra frame to improve to 20-0 on the year.

Link to NCAASports.com article on the tournament