THE BASICS:
 
- Score: MIT 20, Emerson College 9
 
- Records: MIT (11-4, 4-1 NEWMAC); Emerson (5-11, 1-4 NEWMAC)
 
- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Jack Barry Field)
 
- The Lead: A nine-goal run that spanned the third and fourth quarters helped the MIT men's lacrosse team pull away for a 20-9 victory over Emerson College in NEWMAC action on Saturday. Junior Heath Nilsen (Carlsbad, Calif.) tallied four goals, five assists, three groundballs, and two caused turnovers for the Engineers while Jack Burns generated six goals for the Lions.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- In a back-and-forth first quarter, back-to-back goals by Nilsen, both of which were set up by graduate student Ryan Gebhardt (Baldwinsville, N.Y.), gave MIT a 5-3 edge with 2:05 left on the clock. Emerson cut its deficit in half courtesy of Burns' unassisted goal with 47 seconds remaining.
 
- The score remained unchanged until Peirce Eldredge redirected a feed from Toby Cunningham at the 7:17 mark of the second quarter. The Engineers replied with six unanswered goals, resulting in an 11-5 halftime advantage. Nilsen earned assists on three of the goals as he found senior Teddy Corcoran (Harrison, N.Y.) to start the run and then set up first year Zach Bleil (New Canaan, Conn.) for back-to-back goals.
 
- The Lions battled back in the third quarter as they narrowed the gap to 11-8 with 5:15 on the clock. Strikes by Burns sandwiched a solo effort by Benson Offit. MIT responded with man-down goals from junior Joe Lupo (Bedford, N.H.) and Gebhardt to create some breathing room.
 
- The Engineers controlled the action in the fourth quarter as they outscored Emerson, 7-1. First year Bryce Metalios (Riverside, Conn.) recorded the first two goals of the frame while senior Logan Paterson (Silver Spring, Md.) provided the last two. The Lions ended their scoring drought when Birk Swan found the back of the net with 15 seconds left to play.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
- Gebhardt posted two goals and three assists while Bleil finished with a hat trick. Senior Andrew Johnson (Dover, Mass.) produced seven groundballs and three caused turnovers as sophomore Nico Bowden (Concord, Mass.) generated four caused turnovers. Sophomore Luke Chapman (Houston, Texas) and senior Chris Perrino (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) both notched three caused turnovers while senior Andrew Palleiko (Hopkinton, Mass.) collected five groundballs.
 
- Sophomore Matthew Sardis (Bernardsville, N.J.) totaled seven groundballs and won 12 of his 21 faceoff attempts. Senior goalie Devin McCabe (New Castle, N.H.) made six saves in 50 minutes while senior David Vapnek (San Diego, Calif.) turned away three shots down the stretch.
 
- James Toomy amassed 10 groundballs as he went 15-of-32 on the faceoff "x" while Josh DeMattos added eight groundballs. In net, Malcolm McGrath totaled 20 saves, four groundballs, and three caused turnovers.
 
UP NEXT:
 
- Both teams wrap up the regular season against NEWMAC foes on Saturday, April 29 at 1:00 p.m. MIT will travel to Babson College while Emerson will host the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
 
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