In a thrilling back-and-forth affair the Wheelock College men's lacrosse team edged Johnson State College in their regular season finale, 9-7. The win has the Wildcats close the 2016 campaign at 6-8 while the Badgers fall to 2-10.

The contest featured seven ties and eight lead changes as it took until the fourth quarter for Wheelock to secure the victory. With 5:36 to play rookie Brian Peatfield sized up the defense, beat his man, and slung a low shot past the keeper to give the home team the lead for good. Peatfield would tack on another score at the 2:40 mark to make it 9-7.

The see-saw battle began early as the Badgers struck first from the stick of senior Andrew Neddo a little over three minutes in during a man advantage. The Wildcats countered with goals from sophomore Connor Mahoney and junior Eddie Romero before sophomore Rhys Keenhold knotted it up at 2-2.

The second quarter featured a similar pattern but it was Wheelock with the quick strike as freshman Brendan Nardone scored to give his team a 3-2 lead. Johnson State would respond two minutes later with a goal from rookie Isaiah Leraeu and then Keenhold sent them into the break up 4-3 when he found the twine with under five minutes remaining in the half.

In the third period, the momentum continued to shift as a scoreless first 12 minutes saw three goals in the dying breaths of the quarter. Peatfield and Romero found the back of the cage 40 seconds apart to give Wheelock a 5-4 lead but senior Jefferson Lawler answered with 20 ticks on the clock to tie it back up at 5-5.

The final quarter followed the same script as freshman Keenan Brown traded goals with junior Mason Phillips and Lawler that saw the score knotted at 7-7 with 7:50 to play. That was when Peatfield took over and led the home team to victory.

The Wildcats featured a trio of players with multiple goals led by Peatfield's hat trick. Romero added two goals and two assists while Brown chipped in with a pair of scores. Rookie goalie Noah Horning earned the win while making six saves.

The Badgers were led by Lawler with three points on two goals and an assist while Keenhold contributed a pair of scores as well. Junior netminder Jay Palmisano took the loss despite making 17 stops.