MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – A crucial 5-0 second quarter run loomed large in the outcome as Connecticut College defeated the Wesleyan men's lacrosse team 14-10 on Wednesday night. By way of a three-way tiebreaker, Wesleyan (8-7, 4-6 NESCAC) finishes ninth in the NESCAC regular season standings and misses the postseason. The Camels (6-7, 4-6 NESCAC) earn a postseason bid as the #8 seed and will travel to face #1 Tufts in the quarterfinal round.
 
The Cardinals weathered a storm in the first quarter, with Conn. outshooting the Cardinals 20-7 in the frame but Drew Skibniewski '23 made three saves and proved vital as the score was tied 2-2 after one.
 
It was a different story in the second quarter with the Camels scoring five unanswered, opening up a 7-2 lead. After consecutive Cardinal goals from Will Shull '25 and Matt Gill '23 stymied the run, Liam Horkan got one back for the Camels who led 8-4 at halftime.
 
Neither team scored for the opening 10:33 of the second half until CK Giancola '24 netted his 40^th goal of the season to cut the deficit to three, but the Camels again had an answer late in the quarter as Patrick Atkins and Bobby Chang scored to rebuild a 10-5 lead.
 
Wesleyan again cut the deficit to three on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter but couldn't get a run going and Conn. finished off a 14-10 win.
 
Jack Raba '23 led the Cardinal attack with six points (three goals, three assists) and a career-high seven ground balls. That was his second career hat trick as he finishes the season as Wesleyan's leading scorer with 55 points (17 goals, 38 assists).
 
Justin Hazard '23 and Giancola each scored twice. Tyler Campbell '25 went 10-for-14 at the X with four ground balls. Kevin Talbot '24 won 6 of his 12 face-off opportunities and added five ground balls. Skibniewski finished the game with 10 saves.
 
This marks just the second time in team history that the Cardinals have missed the NESCAC Tournament, as the only previous squad that didn't advance to the postseason was back in 2002.