MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – In a classic showdown between Little Three rivals, the No. 12 Wesleyan men's lacrosse team punches its ticket to the NCAA Quarterfinal round, benefiting from a late 5-0 run to defeat Williams 14-10 on Sunday afternoon from Citrin Field. Wesleyan (13-4) advances to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the seventh time in team history and first since 2018.
Competing against one another in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the series history, the showdown between longtime rivals started with Wesleyan controlling play throughout the first quarter. Holding a 13-5 edge in shots in the frame, the Cardinals managed to get three shots past Williams goalkeeper Charlie Medd who was coming off the performance of his career in a 6-5 Second Round win over St. John Fisher. Medd made 17 saves in that contest and impressed again early, making five saves in the first quarter alone, but the Cardinals' early pressure paid off in building a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from
Matt Morrow '27,
Ben Burns '26, and
James Bailey '26 with just one second left on the clock.
Williams found some answers in the second quarter, generating a 15-8 advantage in shots while producing five goals on those 15 shots. Jack Sartorius scored 1:18 into the quarter before the Cardinals had a productive 2+ minute spell with three goals coming in short order from Morrow and back-to-back tallies from
Will Miller '26. The Cardinals' 6-1 lead was whittled down to a 7-5 advantage at the half as the Ephs scored three unanswered in a span of less than 90 seconds before Will Doran scored with 10 seconds left on the clock to make it a two-goal game at the break.
That momentum carried over into the second half when Sartorius scored again to lower the deficit to one. In need of an answer, it was Morrow who netted his fourth of the day to break up the Williams run.
Gavin Lechner '27 bought the Cardinals some wiggle room with a goal just over two minutes later, only for Williams to score consecutive tallies to make it a 9-8 game with just over six minutes left in the third.
A crucial face off win followed for
Jack Doherty '28 and the Cardinals who made the most of the opportunity, getting an unassisted Miller goal to spark a game-deciding run.
Conor Selfridge '26 made a big stop on Sartorius after the Ephs won the ensuing face off and later denied Ryan Johnson twice in the final 71 seconds, keeping the two-goal lead intact.
Burns made it a three-goal game with his second goal of the contest and then
Doug Rabin '26 forced a Johnson turnover which was scooped up by
Tommy Kilroy '29 and the first-year carried down the field before scoring his first career goal to make it 12-8 Cardinals with 10+ minutes left. Selfridge continued to come up big, posting consecutive saves on Nick Reich and Doran just five seconds apart.
The Cardinals put the game to bed late in the fourth as
Cooper Mendelsohn '29 and
Thomas Girimonti '28 capped a 5-0 run that gave Wesleyan their biggest lead of the game at 14-8 with just over three minutes left. The Ephs scored twice in the final 30 seconds of play but it was too little too late as Wesleyan closed out the 14-10 win.
Selfridge finished the game with 12 saves including several crucial stops during the Cardinals' 5-0 run. Wesleyan led the face off battle (15-11) with Doherty going 13-for-18 at X. Morrow finished with four goals to lead the Cardinal offense while Miller scored three and Burns netted a pair.
Peter Rossi '28 and
Joe Hurton '27 each tallied three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Next up for the Cardinals is a trip to Tufts for the site of the NCAA Quarterfinal and Semifinal rounds. Wesleyan will meet No. 5 Christopher Newport on Saturday at 7:30 PM on Bello Field with a trip to the NCAA Semifinal (Final Four) on the line. The two sides have met just once before, a 21-8 CNU win in the NCAA Third Round back in 2022.
