SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – For the second time in three games, the No. 7 Wesleyan men's lacrosse team pitched a second half shutout as the Cardinals outscored Springfield 11-0 in the second half to run away with a 17-5 win from Stagg Field on a frigid Wednesday night. The Cardinals (9-3) have won six straight against the Pride (7-6) dating back to1999.
 
Just one week removed from an 8-0 shutout of Trinity in the second half of a 13-7 win at home, the Cardinals were even more impressive against Springfield, scoring four in the third quarter and seven more in the fourth quarter while the Wesleyan defense matched a season-low with the five total goals allowed.
 
Wesleyan used a 3-0 spurt in a span of less than three minutes to take an early 4-1 lead in the first quarter. Goals from four different Cardinals gave Wesleyan the three-goal advantage, but the Pride came back with two goals in 58 seconds to make it just a one-goal game heading into the second.
 
Turnovers plagued both sides in the second quarter, with the two teams combining for 13 giveaways in the frame, while Springfield goalkeeper Kaden Quirk kept his team in the game with six saves in the second quarter alone. Both teams managed two goals including a Riley Burgmyer goal with just four seconds left to make it 6-5 Wesleyan at halftime.
 
A hyper-efficient third quarter saw the Cardinals score four times in just five shot attempts for the entire 15-minute period. Will Miller '26 scored a natural hat trick with three straight goals to open the second half. His first came 2:05 into the third quarter on the first Wesleyan offensive possession of the frame, while he followed that up with another just 37 seconds later off a feed from CK Giancola '24, G'25. An unassisted marker make it 9-5 Cardinals midway through the third before Conor Selfridge '26 took on a starring role, with the junior goalkeeper making four of his six saves in the quarter across the final 7+ minutes.
 
Leading by five at the start of the fourth, the Cardinals quickly but the game to bed with three goals in just 1:12 minutes to start the fourth. James Bailey '26 opened the quarter with an unassisted goal before Gavin Lechner '27 scored back-to-back goals for the Cardinals to spot Wesleyan an eight-goal lead.
 
Springfield had no answers for the Wesleyan defense in the fourth quarter, turning the ball over on their first seven possessions of the period, while the Cardinals poured it on late with two Will Shull '25 goals as well as markers from Drew Zyskowski '27 and Matt Morrow '25 to complete the scoring.
 
Selfridge finished the game making stops on all seven of Springfield's shots on goal in the second half. The junior goalkeeper finished with 10 saves in the game, with just five goals allowed for a .667 save percentage, which is a season-high for Selfridge when playing at least three quarters.
 
Tyler Campbell '25 dominated in his opportunities, going 13-for-19 on faceoffs with three ground balls. Joe Hurton '27 racked up four ground balls while Matt Rettinger '25 joined him with four. Reef Kabalin '25 had two caused turnovers and two ground balls for the Cardinal defense while Emmett Schillinger '25 totaled three ground balls and one caused turnover.
 
Next up for the Cardinals is a spotlight showdown on Saturday at No. 6 Bowdoin as the two sides will face off at 2 PM. Wesleyan defeated the Polar Bears 16-12 in the regular season last season, outscoring Bowdoin 6-0 in the third quarter.