EDWARDSVILLE – Matthew Bush (Lake Hopatcong, N.J./Jefferson Twp.) and John Wink (Glenside, Pa./Abington) each scored three goals but visiting Alvernia University broke open a 4-4 tie and held on late taking an 8-6 victory over Wilkes University Saturday afternoon at Schmidt Stadium.
 
Wilkes drops to 0-8 overall on the season while Alvernia notches its third win standing 3-6 on the year.
 
Alvernia scored the first three goals of the contest to take a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter. Wilkes stormed back with back-to-back goals from Bush to cut the Alvernia advantage to 3-2 with 14:17 left in the second stanza.
 
Bush completed the hat trick with his third strike of the game before Wink notched his first goal of the contest tying the game at 4-4 with 5:39 left in the half. Alvernia grabbed the lead back before the end of the half to take a 5-4 advantage to the break.
 
Alvernia built the lead to 7-4 after striking twice as the only goals scored for both sides in the third quarter.
 
Two goals from Wink, including a man-up strike off an assist from Jeremy Kachel (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) brought the Colonels to within one at 7-6 with 6:09 left in the game. Alvernia added a goal late in the fourth to seal the game scoring with just :56 remaining on the clock.
 
Wink and Bush were all the offense for Wilkes with Wink also adding an assist. Kachel added two helpers on the attack.
 
Brian Manning (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) made 17 saves in the loss for Wilkes, while Alvernia's Jacob O'Donnell finished with five stops to record the win in net.
 
Wilkes begins MAC Freedom play next Saturday when the Colonels travel to St. Davids, Pa. for a matchup with defending conference champion Eastern University at 2:00 p.m.