MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – In a frantic final minute filled with drama, the No. 20 ranked Wesleyan men's lacrosse team made the winning plays down the stretch to hold off No. 15 Amherst's comeback bid, defeating the Mammoths 12-11 on Tuesday night from Citrin Field. Wesleyan (7-2, 4-1 NESCAC) earned their third straight win over Amherst (5-3, 2-2 NESCAC) while also secured the 13^th Little 3 Championship in team history for the Cardinals and the first since 2018.
 
Despite leading 8-3 at halftime in another cold and soggy game played in Middletown, the Cardinals saw their lead shrink to just one late in the third as Amherst used a 4-0 run to lower the deficit to 9-8.
 
However, a crucial Amherst penalty early in the next possession led to a CK Giancola '24 man-up goal that stymied the Mammoth run. Alex Moynihan '24 later beat Amherst goalkeeper Mitch Likins low to make it 12-9 Cardinals with 8:34 remaining, but the Mammoths hung in and made a game of it late.
 
As Wesleyan slowed things down while on offense, the Cardinals drained the game clock but couldn't convert late in the shot clock on back-to-back possessions. Now with under four minutes remaining, Bob Gross got one back for the Mammoths to make it 12-10. Amherst won the ensuing faceoff, only to see Conor Selfridge '26 make one of his career-high 12 saves, denying the Mammoths and keeping the two-goal lead intact.
 
Another minute came and went but Wesleyan again couldn't convert late in the shot clock as Likins made a save on DJ Dixon '24. The Mammoths' clearance attempt, however, was broken up by Ben Burns '26 who broke up a pass and scooped up the ball near midfield.
 
With under a minute left, Will Miller '26 had his shot attempt that would have iced the game away saved by a scrambling Likins in net, and Amherst took full advantage on a must-score possession. Gross scored to make it 12-11 Cardinals with 37 seconds left and Amherst's Nicholas Kopp won the faceoff to give the Mammoths a chance at a game-tying goal in the final minute.
 
The Mammoths called timeout to set up their attack, but the Cardinals were up to the task as Joe Hurton '27 forced Bennett Chow into a pass as the midfielder looked to be lining up a shot from 15 yards out. Charlie Wilmot '26 grabbed the ground ball and carried across midfield but turned the ball back to Amherst with just under eight seconds remaining.
 
On their last gasp attempt to send the game into overtime, Brendan Reilly couldn't secure a clearance pass cleanly as valuable seconds ticked off the board. Once he regained control, all Reilly could do is whip the ball towards cage that went begging as the buzzer sounded on a captivating home win for the Cardinals over their Little 3 rivals.
 
The frantic final minutes was a far cry from the start of the game as Wesleyan built a 5-2 lead in the first quarter and stretched their advantage to 8-3 at the half. James Bailey '26 and Jack Raba '23 either scored or assisted on all five first quarter goals, the last of which being a hidden ball trick play as Giancola looked to be setting a pick for Raba but the pair fooled the defense and Giancola was left wide open to score on an empty cage.
 
Bailey again factored on the scoring with an assist to Dixon for a goal midway through the second quarter before unassisted goals from Justin Hazard '23 and Will Shull '25 made it 8-3 Cardinals before halftime. Selfridge was outstanding in the opening half, making seven saves on the 10 Amherst shots-on-goal.
 
Amherst made their move in the third quarter, scoring five times, but the Cardinals did enough to hold on late in a game Wesleyan led wire-to-wire to secure the win.
 
Wesleyan was outshot 44-41 but secured a 29-25 edge in ground balls despite losing the faceoff battle 15-11. The Cardinal defense also held Amherst to a 1-for-6 showing on extra man opportunities while the Mammoths committed 23 turnovers for the game and 14 in the second half alone.
 
Bailey led the Cardinal offense with one goal and four assists for five points. Raba added four points (one goal, three assists) while Giancola had a hat trick.
 
Hurton was terrific on face offs and on defense in this one, totaling a career-high seven ground balls with three caused turnovers and one assist. Jared Cohen '25 also made waves in his return to the lineup, finishing with four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
Selfridge was stellar in his first start of the season, making a career-high 12 saves to earn his first career win.
 
Wesleyan looks to ride the wave of momentum into a huge Saturday afternoon contest at No. 4 Tufts with the opening faceoff at 1 PM. The last Cardinal win over the Jumbos came back in 2019 as Wesleyan has lost four straight games to Tufts.