WILKES-BARRE, PA – Junior Ethan Weaver (Olney, MD/James Hubert Blake) exploded for a career-best nine points on three goals and six assists to lead the Wilkes University men's lacrosse team to a 14-9 victory at crosstown rival King's College on Saturday afternoon in a Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) clash.

Weaver's nine-point game ranks third in program history since the program rebirth for a single game and his six assists rank second.

Wilkes improved to 1-3 overall with the victory and to 1-1 in the MAC Freedom. King's dropped to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the league.

Colby Opromolla (Patterson, NY/Carmel) scored the Colonels first goal at 6:36 of the first quarter to even the game at 1-1. After the Monarchs went ahead 3-1, Weaver tallied his first goal of the game with 34 seconds left in the quarter.

Kyle Sokol (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) then scored from Weaver to tie the game at 3-3 with 10:13 left in the second quarter. King's answered to go ahead for the third time but then Wilkes strung together the next three goals to take a 6-4 lead into halftime. Luke Palladino (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) scored his third goal of the year on the man-up with an assist from Weaver followed by Weaver's second goal of the game. Matthew Warns (Cutchogue, NY/Mattituck) then scored his first career goal.

Wilkes extended its run to four goals with the first of the third quarter when Alex Myers (Cortland, NY/Cortland) tallied his third of the season. The Monarchs scored the next two goals to pull within one at 7-6 but Palladino again scored on the man-up from Weaver at the 7:02 mark of the third. After a King's reply Weaver completed his hat trick off an assist from Nico Lorenzo (Howell, NJ/Howell) and then Weaver returned the favor with an assist to Lorenzo. Palladino then scored his third of the game from Weaver to close the third quarter scoring and put the Colonels ahead 11-7.

After a King's goal, Lorenzo netted his fourth of the year. Jacob Kudysch (Stratford, CT/Frank Scott Bunnell) followed with his second goal of the season on Weaver's sixth assist of the day to make the score 13-8. The Monarchs scored with 2:33 left but Myers put up his second goal of the day 30 seconds later to seal the 14-9 victory.

Ryan Lasher (Warrenton, VA/Liberty) earned his first victory of the 2021 season with 14 saves as he posted a .609 save percentage. Opromolla led Wilkes with seven ground balls while Hunter Riley (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa Central) followed with six and two caused turnovers.

Trevor Douenias led King's with four points on a two goal-two assist game. Joe Plachcinski made 17 saves in the losing effort.

Wilkes outshot King's 44-32 overall and 31-23 on-goal. The Colonels also won the ground ball battle 42-34 while King's won the faceoff battle 17-10. Wilkes was successful on 19-of-25 clears and King's was 12-for-16. The Colonels went 2-for-6 on the man-up and did a nice job of not taking penalties as King's was 0-for-1 on its lone man-up chance.

The Colonels return to action on Wednesday when they host Arcadia University for a 7:00 p.m. MAC Freedom game at the Ralston Athletic Complex.