BOSTON, Mass. - UMass Boston Men's Lacrosse used a big third quarter run to put away the Lyons of Wheaton College 22-16 in their final home game before their spring break trip to Texas. The Beacons improve to 4-0 for the fourth time in the last five seasons. 

THE BASICS
UMass Boston 22, Wheaton College 16

UMass Boston (4-0)
Wheaton College (3-2)

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Beacons offense got its spark from a familiar source in graduate transfer Sean Daly. For the third time in four games with UMass Boston, Daly cashed in an unassisted goal for the team's first score of the game.

A few other Beacons with some experience under their belt joined in on Daly's fun early. Luke Murphy fed assists to fellow grad student Zach Mann and senior attacker Greg Wolff to stretch the lead to three. Daly got back in the mix with an assist on Mann's second goal for a 4-0 advantage.

A late first period goal and an early in the second combined to cut the Beacons lead in half, 4-2. A man-up opportunity earned Sean Daly his second unassisted goal, interrupting the brief Wheaton run. Another Wolff goal and a third unassisted Daly score stretched the advantage to 7-2.

Not to be put away prematurely, the Lyons ripped off a 3-1 run including a near buzzer beater to cut the halftime score to 8-5 in favor of the Beacons.

They say "if it ain't broke don't fix it," and Sean Daly certainly did not break at halftime. The midfielder put home his fourth unassisted goal of the afternoon just 15 seconds into the second half. Patrick Dwinnells and Mann joined in to piece together a 4-1 run, capped off by none other than a fifth unassisted Daly goal.

A pair of Jack Board goals pulled Wheaton within four, 12-8, but only delayed the inevitable. Daly's sixth unassisted goal of the evening sparked an 8-1 UMass Boston run that put the game well out of reach for the Lyons, 20-9.

Wheaton cashed in on some opportunities against the Beacons' second string, but could do little to catch up with the 22-goal pace set by the hosts. 

Throughout the game, the Beacons offense and defense benefitted immensely from the work of Matt Lucozzi in the faceoff circle. Not only did he kickstart several Beacons scoring chances, he kept the ball away from the Lyons' second-leading scorer, Charlie Racine, holding him to nine wins on 29 draws.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Daly and Wolff, the Beacons' first and second-leading scorers, respectively, played their high school lacrosse together at Silver Lake High School
• The Beacons scooped 52 ground balls compared to just 30 for the Lyons
• Lucozzi won a remarkable 26 of his 33 faceoffs
• 11 different Beacons scored a goal on Wednesday night
• The UMass Boston victory ended a five-game losing streak against Wheaton

WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will take their annual spring break trip to Georgetown, Texas to face Vassar College on Sunday March 10.