BOSTON – The Norwich University men's lacrosse team fell behind early, but the Cadets were never able to completely erase their deficit in a 9-6 loss to Wentworth Institute of Technology Thursday evening at Sweeney Field.

Norwich has lost the last six games and are now 5-7 on the year, while Wentworth improved to 8-6 overall.

Six different players recorded a goal for the Cadets. Junior midfielder Matt Flaherty (Portland, Maine) recorded a goal and an assist, while senior attackman Seth Fuller (Wheaton, Ill.) recorded a goal and a team-high five ground balls. Senior Andrew Bracy (Carthage, N.Y.), junior Ryan McCarthy (Medford, Mass.), and freshman Jared Thompson (Linthicum, Md.) and Matt Thresher (Somers, Conn.) each scored a goal for the Maroon and Gold.

Wentworth was led by junior attackman Alec Paradis (Pelham, N.H.) with a hat-trick, while Ryan Coakley (Flemington, N.J.) and Michael Cushera (Waltham, Mass.) contributed two goals with Coakley picking up three assists on the night.  Sophomore Sean Farmer (Billerica, Mass.) and freshman Kevin Butler (Jefferson, Mass.) would tack on a goal for the Leopards.

The Cadets would get on the board less than three minutes into the opening faceoff as Thompson scored on a feed from Flaherty for the early lead. Wentworth would pull off three shots in the first period but none of them landed in the back of the net as Norwich's defense kept the Leopards off the board for the first 15 minutes of the game.

Wentworth would score two minutes into the second period on a Paradis goal with Coakley picking up the assist before the Leopards went on to score three straight, including a man-up opportunity goal for the 4-1 lead at the half.

After the break, the Cadets went to work and got on the board with Flaherty putting the ball into the net on a quick feed from Joe Wood (White River Junction, Vt.) for NU's second goal of the game. Wentworth would tack on three additional goals for the 7-2 lead before Norwich's Bracy and Thresher scored back-to-back to cut the deficit to three after three periods of lacrosse.

Wentworth wasted no time in the fourth period with Farmer scoring unassisted at the 12:41 mark to make it a four-goal game. The Cadets would take advantage of the extra-man opportunity late in the frame as freshman Nolan Aurelia (Stratford, Conn.) found McCarthy open for the blazing shot as Norwich trailed 8-5 with just 6:11 remaining on the clock. The Leopards would score once more before Norwich looked to make a late comeback but could muster just one goal before time expired as Wentworth held on for the 9-6 victory.

Senior netminder Ryan Fecteau (Danvers, Mass.) collected 10 saves in between the pipes for NU, while Wentworth's Adam Dufault (Lexington, Mass.) came up with nine saves in the 15 shots faced.

Despite owning a 14-5 advantage on faceoffs and a 42-40 duel on ground balls, Norwich managed just 15 shots on goal and went 1-for-1 in man-up situations. Wentworth would convert both man-up situations into goals, pulling off 30 shots on the night with 19 of them being on goal.

The Cadets will wrap up the 2015 regular season with a Great Northeast Athletic Conference matchup against St. Joseph's Maine on the road for the 1:00 p.m. tilt.