Wilkes Men's Lacrosse Earns First Win of 2019 19-7 over Wesley
EDWARDSVILLE – The Wilkes University men's lacrosse team scored in bunches to earn its first win of the 2019 season 19-7 over Wesley College in the team's home opener at Schmidt Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Colonels improved to 1-1 on the season with the victory.
Wilkes got on the board just over a minute into the game when Alex Myers (Cortland, NY/Cortland) found the back of the net with an assist from JT Weitzel (Hampstead, MD/North Carroll).
Wesley tied the game with 9:28 remaining in the first quarter, but the Colonels got the next three goals, at 7:34 from Nico Lorenzo (Howell, NJ/Howell) assisted by John Wink (Glenside, PA/Abington); at 6:57 from Luke Palladino (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) with an assist from Eric Ormsby (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley); and at 4:34 by Matthew Bush (Lake Hopatcong, NJ/Jefferson Twp.) assisted by Myers to put Wilkes up 4-1.
After the Wolverines scored to end the run, Wilkes tallied three more goals in a row to close out the first quarter; Palladino scored from Ormsby at 1:38; Wink found the net ten seconds later from Ethan Weaver (Olney, MD/James Hubert Blake); and Wink scored again with 38 seconds left in the quarter on a man-up opportunity from Ormsby as the Colonels ended the first 15 minutes holding a 7-2 lead.
Wesley opened the scoring 37 seconds into the second quarter to cut the advantage to 7-3, but Wilkes went on a three-goal run again as Wink scored a man down from Weaver; Weitzel recorded an unassisted tally, and Palladino netted another from Wink as the Colonels found themselves up 10-3 with 5:32 until halftime.
The Wolverines tallied a single goal to make the score 10-4 but was matched by a Connor Daly (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Twp.) goal with an assist to Palladino as the first half ended with Wilkes leading 11-4.
Daly picked up where he left off in the third quarter with a goal from Palladino, which was followed by an unassisted goal from Wink to increase the lead to 13-4. Wesley scored to end the run but another run started after as Wink scored from Myers to end the third quarter while Lorenzo opened the fourth with a tally assisted by Max Brown (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach).
Brown recorded a goal of his own assisted by Wink while Myers finished the scoring after a goal from Wesley assisted by Brown.
Wink set new career-highs across the board, leading the way with six goals and five assists for 11 points. Palladino followed Wink with four goals and five points, Myers added two goals and two assists, while Ormsby and Brown added three points each. In all, ten Colonels registered at least one point on the afternoon.
Carter Whittemore (Rochester, NY/West Irondequoit) earned the win making four big saves in the first half while Daniel Cox (Stratford, CT/Stratford) and Ryan Lasher (Warrenton, VA/Liberty) combined to finish the game in net.
Wilkes held a 53-32 advantage in ground balls and won 25-of-30 face off opportunities.
The Colonels return to action on Wednesday when they host Utica College for a 4:00 p.m. non-conference game.
