FRANKLIN, Mass. – April 20, 2024 – The Dean College men's lacrosse team pulled away in the fourth to defeat Johnson & Wales (JWU), 15-10, in a critical Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) South Division matchup on senior day at Grant Field.

Dean (10-4, 6-3 GNAC, 4-1 South) travels to Mitchell on Wednesday at 3 p.m. for a regular season finale. Johnson & Wales (9-5,7-2 GNAC, 4-1 South) will conclude the regular season on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. home game against Lasell.

The Bulldogs finished the regular season home slate with a perfect 7-0 record. The 15 goals by Dean today were the most given up by Johnson & Wales this season. The Wildcats were leading the conference with a 7.6 goals against average.

The Wildcats began the fourth quarter with two goals in 13 seconds, both set up by freshman Jack Davis (Absecon, N.J.), to pull within one (11-10) with 13:01 left to play. Dean then took control of the action by scoring the final four goals of the contest, each by a different Bulldog.

First-year Manny Alvarez-Segee (Saugus, Mass.) scored a game-high five goals. Senior Alec Speirs (Old Lyme, Conn.) also had five points with four goals and one assist. Senior Diego Alvarez-Segee (Saugus, Mass.) was the third Dean player with five points on two goals and three assists. Juniors Owen Brine (Lebanon, N.H.) and Jason Richard (Holden, Mass.) contributed two goals apiece. Senior Tyler Benedetto (Jupiter, Fla.) won 18-of-29 faceoffs and picked up nine ground balls.

Davis led the Wildcats with five points on two goals and three assists. Freshman Jacob Graham (Gorham, Maine) and junior Donny McInnis (North Haven, Conn.) finished with two goals apiece.

Dean first-year Elijah Beland (Augusta, Maine) made seven saves in the victory, while senior Chris April (Mansfield, Mass.) ended the game with nine saves.

The visitors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes of action. Dean responded by scoring the next three, including a pair by Manny Alvarez-Segee. JWU answered with two goals in a 31-second span to take a 5-3 lead. The Bulldogs fought back in the final six minutes of the quarter with three goals, two by Speirs, for a 6-5 lead after 15 minutes.

Richard scored a goal less than a minute into the second to put the home team on top by a deuce. The teams traded the next four goals to keep the margin at a pair, 9-7, heading into the half. Diego Alvarez-Segee found Speirs in front of the goal with 38 seconds left on the clock for his third tally of the contest.

Five minutes into the third, Speirs notched his fourth of the game for a 10-7 Dean lead. Six minutes later, Manny Alvarez-Segee found the back of the net on a nice play set up by junior Jaden Wise (Belchertown, Mass.) for an 11-7 advantage. McInnis stopped the run for the Wildcats to trim the Dean lead to 11-8 with 2:04 left in the third.