MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The No. 10 Wesleyan men's lacrosse team pitched a second half shutout, outscoring No. 16 Amherst 9-0 after halftime to roll past the Mammoths for a 16-4 win from Citrin Field on Wednesday night. The 12-goal win makes history as the largest Wesleyan win over Amherst in 69 all-time meetings in the series history. The Cardinals (7-2, 3-2 NESCAC) pick up their first league home win of the season while the Mammoths (3-5, 2-3 NESCAC) lose a third straight game.
 
Neither side could get much going offensively in the first quarter, with Wesleyan scoring two goals via Ben Burns '26 while Bennett Chow scored for the visitors to account for the 2-1 scoreline heading into the second quarter.
 
Burns took just two minutes into the second to complete his hat trick then Kyle Short '28 scored an unassisted marker to make it 4-1 Cardinals. A key sequence followed as Peter Rossi '28 was whistled for a two-minute, locked in illegal body checking penalty, but Chow was denied by Conor Selfridge '26 and then on the ensuing Cardinal possession, James Bailey '26 scored on the man-down to make it 5-1 Wesleyan.
 
Amherst followed with a 3-1 run to make it a two-goal game late in the first half, only to see Bailey score with 43 seconds left to send the Cardinals into halftime with a 7-4 lead.
 
The final 30 minutes were completely dominated by the Cardinals who scored six unanswered goals in the third quarter before adding three more in the fourth, with no answer back from the Mammoths. Wesleyan generated double-digit shot totals in both the third and fourth quarters while Amherst had 16 total shot attempts in the second half, only three of which required a Wesleyan goalie to make a save as the 13 other shots went wide, high, or hit a pipe.
 
Wesleyan had a man-up opportunity right at the start of the third quarter and Bailey found Gavin Lechner '27 right in front for the first goal of the second half. Matt Morrow '27 broke free of his defender and powered his way to a goal just over a minute later. Lechner scored again before Will Miller slotted home his 16^th goal of the season. Short made it 12-4 Cardinals and Burns added his first of the second half.
 
The Cardinals tacked on three more, all of which were scored less than five minutes into the fourth quarter, before the benches emptied and the game ended in a 16-4 Wesleyan win.
 
Burns led the Cardinal offense with five goals and one assist for six points. Bailey had a five-point game with three goals and two assists. Lechner totaled two goals and two assists while Miller and Short each went for two goals and one assist.
 
Joe Hurton '27 led the Cardinal defense with four caused turnovers and four ground balls. Lucca Casagrande '26 finished with three caused turnovers and two ground balls. Rossi totaled four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
Selfridge made four saves in cage for the win. Jack Doherty '28, Jackson Tinari '26, and Jack Stanislaw '27 each finished with four wins on face offs.
 
Next up is Senior Day for the Cardinals who play host to No. 14 Middlebury on Saturday at 1 PM on Citrin Field.