EDWARDSVILLE – Ten different Colonels reached the point column led by Colby Opromolla's (Patterson, NY/Carmel) five-point effort as the Wilkes University men's lacrosse team recorded its first-ever Landmark Conference victory with a 12-9 decision over visiting Juniata College Wednesday night at Schmidt Stadium.
 
Wilkes improved to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in Landmark play while Juniata dropped to 2-8 overall and 0-2 in league games.
 
Wilkes raced out to a 3-0 lead nine minutes into the first quarter. Anthony DelDuca (Westchester, NY/Westlake) began the scoring with his seventh of the year followed by back-to-back goals from Opromolla at 7:10 and 6:18 respectively. After a Juniata goal with 2:26 remaining in the opening frame, Henry O'Connor (Baltimore, MD/Dulaney) scored unassisted followed by Matthew Warns (Cutchogue, NY/Mattituck) off an assist from Jackson Casper (Bel Air, MD/Bel Air) to push the Colonel lead to 5-1. Opromolla completed his hat trick with :23 left in the first scoring the sixth goal of the period thanks to a helper from Tim Hartka (Phoenix, MD/Calvert Hall) as Wilkes led 6-1 after one.
 
The scoring continued into the second quarter as Wilkes outscored the Eagles 4-1 over the second 15 minutes of action. Jaylen Dixon (Livingston, NJ/Livingston) notched his second goal of the year and Hartka got into the scoring column with his 13^th of the season on the man advantage to up the lead to 8-2. Austin Seames (Newton, NJ/Kittatinny Regional) and Tucker Parmer (Ephrata, PA/Ephrata) finished off the scoring in the first half as the Colonels led 10-2 at the break.
 
Each team scored one goal in the third period with Matthew Warns (Cutchogue, NY/Mattituck) scoring the Colonels tally off an assist from Opromolla at 13:42.
 
Juniata made a final attempt at a comeback in the fourth scoring six of its nine goals in the final period of play, but Wilkes held on with a final strike from Opromolla to take the three-point home conference victory, the first one in program history in the Landmark.
 
Opromolla finished with five points on four goals and one assist to lead the Wilkes attack. Hartka followed with four points on one goal and three helpers while Warns finished with two goals. Joseph Marino (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) recorded the win in goal for Wilkes playing the first half making five saves.
 
Wilkes held a 50-36 shot advantage while finishing 18-for-21 on clearing attempts. The Colonels also dominated the face-off circle winning 17-of-23 attempts thanks to 16 wins from Luke Wawrzynek (Harleysville, PA/Souderton Area).
 
Wilkes returns to Landmark play Wednesday with another Landmark contest at Drew University scheduled for 7:00 p.m.