WILLIAMSPORT – The Wilkes men's lacrosse team dropped a close conference contest to the Lycoming College Warriors by a score of 13-9 Wednesday night at UPMC Field at Keiper Stadium.
 
The Colonels fell to 4-8 overall and 1-4 in conference competitions. Meanwhile, Lycoming improved to 3-6 on the season and picked up their first conference victory, matching Wilkes at 1-4 in the Landmark.
 
Lycoming got on the board just under three minutes into the first half with a man-up goal at 12:08. The Colonels answered back at 10:13 with an unassisted Tucker Parmer (Ephrata, PA/Ephrata) goal, his fourth of the season. The two teams traded goals once again, with the Warriors breaking the 1-1 tie at 6:20 before Tim Hartka (Phoenix, MD/Calvert Hall) knotted the score at 2-2 with 4:15 remaining in the first quarter. The Warriors got the go-ahead goal with 3:17 to go in the first, closing out the first 15 minutes with a 3-2 lead.
 
The Warriors tacked on a second unanswered goal just 41 seconds into the second quarter, then added a 5-2 marker exactly one minute later. Lycoming put up three more unanswered goals to jump out to an 8-2 lead with under four minutes remaining in the half. Joseph Markey (Lebanon, NJ/North Hunterdon) stopped the bleeding at 3:46 when he fired a ball that beat the Warrior goalkeeper to cut the deficit to five. Just 35 seconds later, Austin Sosnovik (New Tripoli, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) collected his ninth tally of the season with Anthony DelDuca (Westchester, NY/Westlake) picking up a helper on the 8-4 goal at 3:11 of the second frame.
 
After 30 minutes of action, Wilkes held a slight 14-13 advantage in shots on goal while the Warriors dominated in faceoffs, winning 13 of 14 draws.
 
The Colonels started off the second half strong with three unanswered goals within the first seven minutes of play. First, Markey ripped a shot to the back of the net for his second goal of the contest at 12:04. A few minutes later, Colby Opromolla (Patterson, NY/Carmel) added an unassisted tally to bring the Colonels within two goals. Parmer buried his second of the night at 8:36, pulling the Blue and Gold within one score of tying the game. Opromolla assisted on Parmer's fifth of the campaign. Lycoming responded with a pair of man-up goals to restore a three-goal advantage. Just one minute and 13 seconds later, Hartka potted a man-down goal with an assist going out to Sosnovik as Wilkes brought themselves within a pair.
 
Heading into the fourth, Opromolla fed DelDuca, who finished the scoring opportunity to make it a 10-9 contest. The Warriors finished the game with three unanswered goals to finish off their 13-9 victory.
 
Parmer, Hartka and Markey all contributed two-goal performances on the field for Wilkes, who finished with 25 shots on goal and went 25-29 on clearing attempts. In goal, Joseph Marino (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) and Caleb Miller (Mohrsville, PA/Schuylkill Valley) combined for ten saves.
 
The Warriors enjoyed a four-goal showing from Rory Hines, who also registered one assist and five shots on goal. Jakob Switzer led the team with four caused turnovers. As a unit Lycoming dominated the faceoff circle, winning 17 draws to the Colonels' eight. Ben Franco made 16 saves in net.
 
The Colonels return home to Schmidt Stadium for a two-game homestand starting on Saturday, April 13 when they host Susquehanna University. First faceoff against the River Hawks is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.