CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Wilkes University men's lacrosse team held off a furious fourth quarter comeback attempt to earn its first win in Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom play at DeSales by a 9-8 final on Wednesday evening.

The Colonels improved to 4-8 overall and 1-3 in MAC Freedom play.

Wilkes jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals from Nicholas Ruggiero (Califon, NJ/Voorhees) with an assist from Jeremy Kachel (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) at 10:26 and from John Luna (Valley Center, CA/Valley Center) off of a Connor Daly (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Twp.) feed with 6:16 left in the first quarter.

DeSales cut the lead to 2-1 at 5:08.

The Colonels then netted four consecutive goals to take a 6-1 lead. Kachel and John Wink (Glenside, Pa./Abington) scored unassisted at 4:45 and 4:26. Luna scored again with an assist from Wink with 8:26 left in the second quarter and Ruggiero scored unassisted with 6:17 until halftime.

The Bulldogs scored with 1:43 left in the half as Wilkes entered the break with a 6-2 lead.

Wink added another tally with 12:26 in the third quarter with an assist from Luna and Daly scored with an assist from Kachel to push the lead to 8-2 with 11:04 left in the third quarter.

DeSales scored consecutive goals to cut the lead to 8-4 with 3:48 on the clock in the third quarter.

Kachel added the ninth and final goal for the Colonels with 1:13 in the third.

The Bulldogs scored four goals in the fourth quarter to climb to within one goal, but Wilkes was able to slam the door and earn the victory.

Cody Geidel (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) earned his first collegiate win in just his second start, making 13 saves.

Kachel and Wink each finished with two goals and two assists for four points.

The Colonels return to the field on Saturday when they travel to Manhattanville for a 1:00 p.m. MAC Freedom game.