Courtesy Wesleyan Sports Information

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Wesleyan (17-2) tied its team record for wins in a season by taking the rubber match against NESCAC rival and 2007 NESCAC Men's Lacrosse Champion Middlebury (11-7), 13-9, in an NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Tournament second-round game here Saturday afternoon.  Wesleyan will host Nazareth on Wednesday, May 16 in the quarterfinals at a time to be announced.

Middlebury, which made its 10th consecutive appearance in NCAA post-season play this year, advanced to the second round with a 21-2 victory over Mount Ida three days earlier.  Middlebury has won every NESCAC post-season tournament since the conference received an automatic bid in 2001.  That was the year Wesleyan set its team mark for wins during a 17-3 season.  Wesleyan earned its third straight at-large bid to the NCAAs this year after making the national semi-finals in 2006 and the quarter-finals in 2005.

In the first two meetings between Wesleyan and Middlebury this year, Wesleyan took a 5-4 overtime decision during the regular season in Middlebury April 21.  Two weeks later, the Panthers avenged the defeat with an 11-6 triumph during the NESCAC tournament finals at Tufts.  The squads faced each other once before in NCAA play as Middlebury grabbed an 11-8 win in Vermont during the 2005 quarter-finals.

In this latest installment, the Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 advantage before the game was eight minutes old as top-scorer sophomore Jason Ben-Eliyahu got it started with a sharp-angled bouncer from the right side 1:18 into the contest, his 34th goal of the year.  Junior Grayson Connors netted the first of his four goals at 12:11 followed by freshman Lonnie Blumenthal and junior Dan Latzman.  Middlebury settled in as sophomore defender James Guay and senior Will Simpson got goals before the end of the period to cut the gap in half.   With the score 5-3 midway through the second period, Connors got a great feed across the front of the net from senior Mike Hines to make it a 6-3 game at 7:28, igniting a five-goal run which gave Wesleyan a 10-3 cushion at halftime.  When Connors opened the second-half scoring at 12:09 and added an assist on sophomore Adam Kirk's tally at 9:15, Wesleyan had the game's largest lead at 12-3.  It also gave Connors his 100th career point, the 21st Wesleyan male to achieve the feat in the team's 47-year varsity history.  He has 29 goals and nine assists this season.

Once the score reached 13-4 at the 5:13 mark of the third stanza, Middlebury came alive and scored the final five goals, two by junior Jim Cabrera who finished the year with a team-high 30 goals to go with 11 assists for 41 points.  Sophomore Mike Stone, with a pair of goals, was right behind with 29 markers and 36 points while senior Nick Bastis added a goal and an assist for a 26-13-39 season.

Wesleyan senior goaltender Charlie Congleton, honored with his second straight selection as first-team all-NESCAC this week, collected 17 saves in a solid day's work.  He came into the game with a 5.59 goals-against average and .657 save percentage.  Senior Alex Palmisano made nine stops for Middlebury.