Men's Lacrosse Drops Heartbreaker vs. SUNY Poly, 12-11

CORTLAND, N.Y. – In search of their first North Eastern Athletic Conference victory since the 2012 season, the Wells College men's lacrosse team came up one goal short in Saturday's 12-11 conference loss to the Wildcats from the SUNY Polytechnic Institute on the campus of SUNY Cortland. Wells dips to 1-6 overall on the year and to 0-4 within conference play while the Wildcats move to 3-6 overall and to 1-3 within the league.

Freshman Aaron Heisey (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) led Wells with four goals scored while sophomore Alex Milliken (Hilton, N.Y.) registered two goals and two assists. Five different Express players registered at least one goal as junior Connor Jansen (Horseheads, N.Y.) scored one goal and chipped in with two assists for three points (1-2=3). Freshman Tanner Mingen (Houston, Texas) struck for one goal and three assists for four points (1-3=4).

Trailing by an 11-10 margin with 1:32 remaining in regulation time, Heisey scored his fourth goal of the game for the Express only 20 seconds later to tie the score at 11 aside with only 1:12 remaining on the clock. A key face-off win by SUNY Poly, however, led to the game-winning goal from the Wildcats' Andrew Wurz with only 20 seconds left in the game. Another win at the "X" for SUNY Poly eliminated any chance of a Wells comeback in the waning seconds.

Wells scored the first two goals of the contest as freshman Brian Buttner (Highland Mills, N.Y.) and Heisey opened up a 2-0 lead with 7:37 remaining in the first quarter. SUNY Poly's Shane Joswick's unassisted tally cut into the Wells lead, but the Express carried a 2-1 lead out of the first 15 minutes of action despite being outshot 10-to-2.

The Wildcats knotted the score at two with a Nick Levanti strike only 1:40 into the second quarter, but a goal from Heisey with the man-advantage at 12:35 placed Wells briefly ahead 3-2. Down the stretch, the Wildcats scored three of the game's next four goals to capture a 5-4 lead at the halftime break.

Opening up a 7-4 lead in the third quarter of action, Wells scored the game's next four goals to secure an 8-7 lead through the first 45 minutes, capped off by a Milliken man-up goal, set up by Mingen, with 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, SUNY Poly quickly re-assumed the lead with two quick goals to elevate the visitors to a 9-8 lead. Strikes from junior Michael Flaherty (Rochester, N.Y.) and Mingen once again lifted Wells to a 10-9 lead, but Joswick stepped up large with back-to-back goals with under three minutes left in regulation to place the team up 11-10.

Wells backstop Tyler Bischoff (Allendale, N.J.) drew the tough-luck loss, making 15 saves against the Wildcats. SUNY Poly's R.J. Ferrucci allowed 11 goals on only 16 shots faced and earned the victory.

The Express return to action Monday, Apr. 13 as they face-off against the Pioneers from Alfred State College in a 4 p.m. road contest. Alfred State (1-11) enters the game fresh off a 10-7 victory against SUNY Canton for their first win of the year.