THE BASICS:
 
- Score: MIT 17, UMass Boston 11
 
- Records: MIT (8-0, 2-0 NEWMAC); UMass Boston (7-1, 1-0 Little East)
 
- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Roberts Field at Steinbrenner Stadium)
 
- The Lead: Led by an eight-goal second quarter, the MIT men's lacrosse team remained unbeaten with a 17-11 home win over UMass Boston on Wednesday night in a battle of 7-0 teams.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- The Beacons jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on unassisted goals by Darragh Fahey and Luke Murphy. MIT countered with four straight goals that was started by sophomore Jack McCordic (Medfield, Mass.) and capped by two straight scores from sophomore Heath Nilsen (Carlsbad, Calif.) for the 4-2 Engineer advantage.
 
- In the decisive second quarter, Nilsen completed his hat trick and graduate student Ryan Gebhardt (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) registered a hat trick of his own with three goals over a span of just 9:16 in the period as MIT held a convincing 10-5 lead at the half.
 
- The third period was even at five goals each as four different Engineers scored, including a man-up goal from senior Gavin Vandenberg (Elmhurst, N.Y.). The Beacons also had four different goal scorers in the period, including a man-down goal straight off the faceoff by Jack Dobrzynski.
 
- Senior Andy Shin (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) opened the final quarter of scoring with his sixth goal of the season with 12:28 remaining, while Vandenberg capped off his hat trick off a pass from senior Liam Miller (Pasadena, Calif.) to account for the 17-11 final.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
- At 8-0, the Engineers are off to the best start in program history as the previous best was a 6-0 mark in the 1962 season.
 
- First-year Matthew Sardis (Bernardsville, N.Y.) won 21 of his 31 faceoff attempts to lead the Engineers as MIT outshot the Beacons 63-40. Both teams were efficient on their clear attempts as MIT converted 19 of 22 to go along with 20 of 26 for UMass Boston. In addition, the Engineers held a slight 47-41 advantage in ground balls.
 
- Gebhardt led MIT with six goals, while Nilsen tallied four goals and an assist. Vandenberg tallied three goals and an assist, along with two assists by senior Ben Dwyer (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) as 11 different Engineers registered at least one point in the game.
 
- Michael Claflin paced the Beacons with a three-goal, one-assist effort to go along with two goals from Charlie Chapman and two assists by Donovan Prozinski.
 
- Senior Lukas Drexler-Bruce (Denver, Colo.) made 10 saves in the win for MIT, while Christian Meinhold had 15 saves in the loss for UMB.
 
- Gebhardt is now just three goals shy of the MIT single-season goals record as he has 48 goals in eight games. The single-season mark is 51 held by Graham Davis from the 2018 season.
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT is back in action at home on Saturday, April 2nd as the Engineers host the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for a 1 p.m. start.
 
STAY CONNECTED:
 
- For the latest on MIT Athletics, follow the Engineers via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.