Springfield, Mass. - April 11, 2018 - Despite a fourth-quarter charge, the Springfield College men's lacrosse was clipped by Middlebury College, 12-11, on Stagg Field on Wednesday night. With the win, Middlebury improves to 6-5, while Springfield, which was once again receiving votes in the USILA National Coaches Poll, dropped to 6-5 with the setback. Tom Hurley (Goffstown, N.H.) had two goals and two assists, Duncan Preston (South Portland, Maine) tallied two goals and an assist, and Joe Hawley (Poulsbo, Wash.) produced a goal and two helpers. Jake Reynolds (Scituate, Mass.) made 11 saves between the pipes and Chris Cunnington (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) caused a team-best three turnovers. For the Panthers, Henry Riehl totaled four goals and two assists, A.J. Kucinski had four goals and an assist, and Jack Madnick picked up eight ground balls. Charles Midgley needed to make just six saves to earn the win in goal. Middlebury controlled much of the possession in the game, winning 19-of-25 face-offs as they won the ground-ball battle, 36-18. The Panthers held a slight 40-34 edge in shot, while the Pride held the visitors to just 1-for-5 on man-up opportunities. Springfield got off to a hot start ripping off four-straight goals in the opening 6:35 of the contest, with Preston starting the scoring with a rip from 15 yards out at the 12:59 mark. The Pride then received goals from Jack Vail (Franklin, Mass.), Hurley, and Tommy Nash (Massapeaqua, N.Y.) to open up a 4-0 lead at the 8:15 mark. Middlebury found an answer for the Pride's aggressive start with a goal from Riehl at the 7:56 mark, only to have Matt Allen (Chevy Chase, Md.) answer back off a great feed from Hurley with 4:09 remaining. However, a goal from Chase Goree closed out the first quarter before the Panthers dominated the second quarter, outscoring the hosts by a 6-1 margin thanks to a 17-3 advantage in shots. Both Riehl and Kucinski had a pair of goals in the quarter, and Michael McCormack highlighted the burst with a man-up goal, as the Panthers headed into the locker room with an 8-6 advantage. The visitors pushed their lead to 9-6 when Kucinski connected with Riehl just under three minutes into the quarter before Preston buried an unassisted strike with 1:51 on the clock, marking the Pride's first goal in nearly 25 minutes. A remarkable finish along the crease by Cameron Glover (Brunswick, Maine) with 13:22 left in regulation kickstarted a spirited four quarter for Springfield as it would not go away. After strikes from Hurley and Hawley allowed Springfield to regain a 10-9 advantage with 6:48 to play, the Panthers used a another goal from Kucinski just 14 seconds later to tie the game up. Middlebury would score again at 5:58, but Hawley found Vail for a goal 49 seconds later to knot things up one final time. The hosts had several great looks down the stretch, including Nash ringing one off the pipe with 2:05 on the clock, before Kucinski would net the game's final goal in transition with 59 seconds left. Springfield will return to New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday when it hosts Mass. Maritime at 1 pm.