AMHERST, Mass. – Junior midfielder C.K. Giancola scored six goals for the Cardinals as Wesleyan University withstood an inspired fourth-quarter comeback to escape Pratt Field at Lehrman Stadium with a 17-13 win over the Amherst College men's lacrosse team in NESCAC action on Wednesday evening.

Both teams ended the night with 7-2 overall records. The Cardinals, ranked 15th in the nation in the latest USILA Division III poll, improved to 4-1 in NESCAC play while the 7th-ranked Mammoths saw their six-game winning streak snapped and fell to 3-2 in conference action.

The Mammoths are back in action on Saturday (April 8), visiting Colby for a 1 p.m. matchup.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* The Cardinals scored the first two goals of the game as senior midfielder Pat Doherty and Giancola got on the board two minutes apart. Senior midfielder Bayard DeMallie answered for the Mammoths, scoring two goals of his own to even the score at 2-2. Giancola scored again to put the Cardinals back on top and sophomore midfielder Will Shull added another for Wesleyan before DeMallie completed a hat trick in the first quarter.

* Wesleyan then held the Mammoths scoreless for nearly 30 minutes and appeared to be headed towards a blowout as the Cardinals took a 10-3 lead to halftime in the midst of a stretch of 10 unanswered goals, capped by a pair of man-down strikes from junior midfielder D.J. Dixon late in the third quarter.

* First-year attack Bob Gross broke through for the Mammoths, scoring a man-up goal with 3:10 to play in the third quarter that kicked off an Amherst rally. Senior attack Tanyr Krummenacher scored a minute later before senior attack Justin Hazard got one back for the Cardinals at the end of the third and junior midfielder Alex Moynihan opened the fourth with a goal to restore Wesleyan's 11-goal lead.

* Gross scored again with 12:31 to play in the fourth to kick off a string of eight straight Amherst goals. Gross scored three, DeMallie added his fourth of the game and Krummenacher struck twice to cut Wesleyan's lead to 16-11 with four minutes to play.

* Junior midfielder Connor Guest outmaneuvered the Wesleyan defense to score his first goal of the season with 2:53 on the clock, bringing the Mammoths back within four. Wesleyan was whistled for a penalty in the final minute of the game, giving the Mammoths a man-up opportunity that sophomore attack Dylan Hsu capitalized on, scoring with 25 seconds on the clock to make the score 16-13, but time ran out on the Amherst comeback and Giancola added a man-down goal in the final seconds to seal the victory for the Cardinals.

BY THE NUMBERS:

* The Mammoths held a 47-39 advantage in shots, but senior Colin Hanley made 17 saves in goal for the Cardinals to keep the Amherst offense frustrated for much of the night.

* Gross led the Mammoths with four goals and three assists, while DeMallie also added four goals and Krummenacher tallied his eighth hat trick in nine games this season.

* Amherst won the ground ball battle by a 39-32 margin as sophomore face-off specialist Nicholas Kopp picked up 10 groundballs, his fourth straight game in double figures, while winning 20 of 34 face-offs.