AMHERST, Mass. – Senior midfielder C.K. Giancola scored a hat trick to lead Wesleyan University to a 12-11 win over the Amherst College men's lacrosse team as the Cardinals held off a second-half Amherst rally in a NESCAC clash on Tuesday evening at Citrin Field.

The Cardinals, ranked 20th in the nation in the latest USILA Division III poll, claimed the Little Three Championship and improved to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in NESCAC play. The 15th-ranked Mammoths fell to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

The Mammoths return to action on Saturday (April 6), hosting 17th-ranked Williams at 1 p.m.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* Sophomores James Bailey and Ben Burns scored the first two goals of the game for the Cardinals and Wesleyan never relinquished the lead.

* Junior Alex Giacobbe and first-year Brendan Reilly scored late in the first quarter for the Mammoths but sophomore Will Miller and Giancola struck 30 seconds apart in the final minute of the first quarter to give Wesleyan a 5-2 lead after the opening frame.

* Reilly scored a man-up goal to open the scoring in the second quarter, but the Cardinals held the Mammoths scoreless for the final 10 minutes of the half. Wesleyan netted three goals of their own to take an 8-3 lead to halftime.

* After the two sides traded goals to open the third quarter, Amherst scored four unanswered goals. Sophomore Bob Gross netted the first two, then Reilly and Giacobbe scored 38 seconds apart to cut Wesleyan's lead to one. Giancola capitalized on a man-up opportunity less than 30 seconds later to give the Cardinals a 10-8 lead after three quarters.

* Amherst's rally continued in the fourth quarter. After Burns opened the final frame with a goal for Wesleyan, first-year Nico Berger scored his first collegiate goal for the Mammoths to pull Amherst back within two. Senior Alex Moynihan answered for Wesleyan less than a minute later to give the Cardinals a 12-9 lead with eight-and-a-half minutes to play.

* Gross scored twice in the final minutes, scoring with 3:29 to play, then adding his fourth goal of the game with 37 seconds left to bring the Mammoths within a goal once again at 12-11. Junior Nicholas Kopp won the ensuing faceoff with sophomore Thompson Lau picking up the ground ball, but the Cardinals forced a turnover before the Mammoths could get a shot. Senior Connor Guest forced a turnover in the final seconds to get the ball back for Amherst but time ran out before the Mammoths could get a shot off to tie the game.

BY THE NUMBERS:

* Gross had a six-point game for the Mammoths with four goals and two assists. Reilly and Giacobbe each tallied three goals and an assist.

* The Mammoths held a 44-41 edge in shots as sophomore Conor Selfridge made 12 saves in goal to earn the win for the Cardinals.

* Kopp won 15 of 26 faceoffs for the Mammoths and picked up six ground balls. Wesleyan won the ground ball battle by a 29-25 margin as first-year Joe Hurton tallied seven ground balls for the Cardinals.

* Lau caused four turnovers for Amherst and picked up five ground balls.