DOYLESTOWN, PA – The Wilkes University men's lacrosse team opened its 2026 season in fine fashion posting an 8-4 non-conference victory over host Delaware Valley University on Saturday afternoon at Robert A. Lipinski Field.
 
The win mark the first of head coach Jordan Drumheller's tenure with the squad.
 
Oscar Cline (New Paltz, NY/New Paltz) put the Colonels up first when he scored on the man-up advantage unassisted with 12:29 on the first quarter clock. Tim Hartka (Phoenix, MD/Calvert Hall) added to the lead when he found the back of the net off an assist from Anthony DiFrancesco (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) two minutes later.
 
Delaware Valley cut the lead in half with a goal with 1:13 left in the first frame.
 
The Aggies made the comeback complete with a goal to start the second quarter tying the game at two with 12:22 left in the first half. Cline notched his second strike of the contest when he scored off a pass from Stone Sosnovik (New Tripoli, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) with 6:58 left in the half. Wilkes pushed the lead to two after DiFrancesco scored the first of his collegiate career thanks to a helper from Austin Sosnovik (New Tripoli, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) just before the half ended.
 
The Colonels extended the lead to 7-3 outscoring the Aggies 3-0 over the third quarter of play. Cline finished off his hat trick with a goal at 13:29 with another helper from A. Sosnovik. S. Sosnovik scored his first of the game off an assist from Blaine Snyder (Germansville, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) at 11:49 and Snyder scored with an assist from Freddy Hipple (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown Community) with 8:37 on the third quarter clock to finish the scoring for Wilkes in the frame.
 
DiFrancesco put the finishing touches on the win with an unassisted goal with 8:51 in the fourth quarter to give Wilkes an 8-3 lead. Delaware Valley added one last goal with eight seconds remaining as the Colonels used strong defense to preserve the road non-league win.
 
Cline led the attack with three goals on four shots. DiFrancesco added two goals and two ground balls while Snyder and S. Sosnovik contributed one goal and one assist each.
 
Wilkes outshot Delaware Valley 39-34 while taking 9-of-16 in faceoffs.
 
Caleb Miller (Mohrsville, PA/Schuylkill Valley) recorded 15 saves to earn the win in net for Wilkes.
 
Wilkes remains on the road Wednesday with a non-conference matchup at Marywood University scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in Scranton, Pa.