EDWARDSVILLE, PA – The Wilkes University men's lacrosse team began its 2023 season Wednesday hosting Susquehanna University at Schmidt Stadium with the River Hawks taking the non-conference game 21-6.

It was the season opener for both teams with Wilkes at 0-1 and Susquehanna at 1-0 following the contest.

Susquehanna started strong, scoring the game's first eight goals including all six in the first quarter.

Sophomore Luke Weakland (Sparks, MD/Hereford) scored the first goal of the season for the Colonels 3:45 into the second quarter and junior Colby Opromolla (Patterson, NY/Carmel) followed just 27 seconds later to make the score 8-2.

Susquehanna answered with the next eight goals which closed the second quarter and began the third.

Weakland scored his second of the game 3:22 into the third quarter. Newcomer Joseph Kozlowski (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) scored his first career goal for Wilkes in the fourth with an assist by Opromolla. Senior Dillon Kadis (McSherrystown, PA/Delone Catholic) scored with another assist going to Opromolla and Koslowski finished the Colonels scoring in the fourth quarter with his second of the game.

Chris Ciccarello had a game-high six points on five goals and one assist for Susquehanna. Brennan Lorence also scored five goals. Opromolla led Wilkes with three points.

Weakland and Kadis led the Colonels with four shots as all of Weakland's were on goal. Hunter Riley (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa Central) led Wilkes with five ground balls to put him over 100 for his career, becoming just the sixth Colonel to reach that number. Brendan Keegan (Middletown, NY/Pine Bush) led Wilkes with three caused turnovers.

Junior goalkeeper Joseph Marino (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) made 15 saves in his first career start for Wilkes. Jozef Korpics earned the win for Susquehanna as made five first half saves. Auggie Granatelli made three saves in the second half for the River Hawks.

Susquehanna led in all the major categories with shots 54-19, shots on goal 36-14, ground balls 47-25, and face offs 22-7. Wilkes was 18-for-21 on clears and Susquehanna was 15-for-16.

The Colonels return to action with another home game at Schmidt Stadium on Saturday as they host Juniata College at 1:00 p.m. for the first meeting between the two schools.