AURORA, NY – Eleven different players scored at least one goal as the Wilkes University men's lacrosse team raced to a record-setting 23-8 win at Wells College Saturday afternoon. The Colonels' 23 goals were the most since the rebirth of the program and the 15-goal margin of victory was also a new record.

John Luna (Valley Center, CA/Valley Center) and Nicholas Ruggiero (Califon, NJ/Voorhees) led the way for the Colonels attack with four goals each to move Wilkes to 5-3 overall on the season. Wells dropped the non-conference game to fall to 2-3 overall.

The Express opened the scoring just 31 seconds into the first quarter but the Colonels responded with the next seven goals in just over six minutes of play to take the controlling lead. Max Brown (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach) struck for his second goal of the season for the first Wilkes goal and John Wink (Glenside, PA/Abington) netted the second off of the first of five assists on the day for Jeremy Kachel (Ephrata, PA/Ephrata).

Matthew Bush (Lake Hopatcong, NJ/Jefferson Twp.), Ruggiero, Nico Lorenzo (Howell, NJ/Howell), Brown, and Connor Daly (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Twp.) tallied the next five goals before Wells added a goal with 7:12 left in the first quarter to stop the run.

Neither team found the net until Luna scored his first of the day 1:22 into the second quarter on the man-up. Wilkes would score six of the next seven goals of the game including the first of the season for Evan Stolicker (Baldwinsville, NY/Charles W. Baker) to enter halftime with a 14-3 lead.

Jack O'Connell (Linwood, NJ/St. Augustine Prep.) struck for his first career goal off a pass from Jacob Kadis (Westminster, MD/Delone Catholic) at the 10:26 mark of the third quarter to put the Colonels ahead 16-3.

Ruggiero scored three consecutive goals at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter to widen the margin to 15 goals at 20-5. Daly and Kachel completed the scoring in the game with tallies within the final 3:30 of action to push the goal total to 23 and the margin of victory back to 15 goals.

Wink brought his career point total to 99 with three goals and three assists on the afternoon for a six-point game. Kachel also recorded six points on a goal and five assists.

Wilkes controlled the game by winning 23 of 34 face offs. Stolicker was 14-of-19 on the day and James Copley (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown) (5-of-9) and Alex Loscalzo (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) (4-of-6) also were above the 50 percent mark. The Colonels went 3-of-6 on the man-up and converted 15-of-17 clear attempts while outshooting Wells 47-33 and held the 33-17 advantage in shots on goal.

Carter Whittemore (Rochester, NY/West Irondequoit) played the first half and made three saves to get credit for the win. Cody Geidel (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) made six second-half saves.

The Colonels close out the non-conference portion of the schedule with home game at Schmidt Stadium against Mount Saint Mary College (NY) Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.