EDWARDSVILLE – Visiting Southern Virginia raced out to a 12-3 halftime and never looked back on way to an 18-9 win over host Wilkes University Saturday afternoon at Schmidt Stadium.
 
Wilkes dropped to 1-1 overall on the season while Southern Virginia improved to 4-1 on the year.
 
Southern Virginia opened up the game scoring the game's first three goals to take a 3-0 lead with 11:59 left in the first quarter. Ethan Weaver (Olney, MD/James Hubert Blake) put Wilkes on the board off an assist from John Luna (San Diego, CA/Valley Center) to cut into the advantage :59 later.
 
Southern Virginia took control of the game scoring eight consecutive goals from the 4:17 mark of the first quarter to the 3:37 mark of the second frame to take a commanding 11-1 lead. Back-to-back Colonel goals, first by Luke Palladino (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) followed by Alex Myers (Cortland, NY/Cortland), brought Wilkes back to within eight trailing 11-3 with under a minute left in the half.
 
Southern Virginia responded right before the half ended when Shawn Lamb drilled a shot to the back of the net with :01 on the clock to push the advantage up to 12-3 at the break.
 
Southern Virginia scored three of the first four goals accounted for in the third quarter. Ethan Weaver (Olney, MD/James Hubert Blake) notched the strike for Wilkes as the visitors continued to lead 15-4 with 8:08 left in the stanza. Jack O'Connell (Linwood, NJ/St. Augustine Prep.) went coast-to-coast for a goal with 7:54 on the third quarter clock. Southern Virginia added one more tally in the third to take a 16-5 advantage into the final frame.
 
The Colonels scored four more times in the fourth as Luna (twice), Connor Daly (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Twp.) and Weaver all found the back of the net.
 
Southern Virginia held a 66-37 shot advantage while also garnering 49 ground balls to Wilkes' 35.
 
Luna led all Wilkes scorers with six points on two goals and four assists. Weaver followed with three goals and one helper.
 
Ryan Lasher (Warrenton, VA/Liberty) played the first 30 minutes finishing with eight saves. Daniel Cox (Stratford, CT/Stratford) played the second half making 12 saves.
 
Wilkes remains home during its spring break week with a non-conference matchup against Marywood University at 4:00 p.m.