JOHNSON, Vt. – Johnson State men's lacrosse saw a 11-8 fourth period lead evaporate as visiting Thomas College rallied to tie it and eventually win in overtime as junior Sean Machin (Brunswick, Maine/Brunswick) connected on the game-winner in the match up of North Atlantic Conference (NAC) institutions.  Johnson dips to 2-7 overall, 1-5 NAC while Thomas improves to 3-7, 2-2 NAC.

Johnson received four goals from senior Alex Petti (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich), three goals from senior Justin Nelson (Lakeville, Mass./Bishop Connolly), and two goals from senior Justin Connolly (Jeffersonville, Vt./Lamoille) in the loss.  Freshman Nash Garceau (North Haven, Conn./North Haven) and sophomore Matthew Malek (Barre, Vt./Spaulding) each added a goal for the Badgers.

JSC's Zach Jerome (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) recorded nine saves in the loss while his counterpart Jesse Morkeski (Damariscotta, Maine/Lincoln Academy) stopped 21 shots to pick up the exciting victory.

Machin had four goals as did Gunnar Shelton (Eugene, Ore./Chuchill) to lead the Terrier offensive attack.  Shelton would add three assists.  Erik Tiner II (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston) had a pair of goals while Matt Davis (Farmington, Maine/Mount Blue) and Derek Racine (Sabattus, Maine/Edward Little) each had one goal.

Johnson State jumped all over the Terriers scoring three goals in the first 2:38 and running out the early 3-0 lead.  Thomas responded with the game's next four goals to take a 4-3 lead capped by an unassisted effort by Machin.

Two scores by the Badgers, two more by Thomas, and then a goal from JSC's Connolly would make the score 6-6 going into halftime despite Johnson owning a 27-14 shot advantage.

Machin's second goal would give Thomas a 7-6 lead but Johnson would roar back for four consecutive scores to make the count 10-7 with 10:09 left to play in the third period.

But the Terriers were not done as goals from Shelton and Machin preceded Connolly's second goal of the day and was followed by scores from Tiner II and Shelton to tie the score at 11-11 with 5:32 remaining in the contest.

The teams would go to overtime setting the scene for Machin's heroics.  A Morkeski save would lead to a clear by Davis who found Machin up the right side who caught, wound up, and fired a low shot past Jerome to end the contest and send the Terrier bench into a frenzy.

For the game Johnson earned a 59-28 shot advantage to go with a 52-28 lead in groundballs.

Both teams will be back in action on Sunday with Johnson hosting the University of Maine-Farmington at 12 pm and Thomas going to New England College.