WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Wilkes University men's lacrosse team traveled to the nation's capital Saturday afternoon for a Landmark Conference battle against the Catholic University Cardinals, ultimately falling short by a final of 22-9.

The Colonels drop to 4-7 (1-2 Landmark) this season, while the Cardinals improve to 7-4 and remain undefeated in conference play (3-0).

The Cardinals took control of the game from the very start, outshooting Wilkes 26-1 and forcing nine turnovers in the first quarter. As a result, Catholic took a 5-0 lead going into the second thanks to five different goal scorers.

Ryan Carickhoff scored Catholic's sixth goal on an extra man opportunity at the 12:05 mark, and then the Colonels finally got on the board with 10:48 left in the half with a Ben Byers (Harding, PA/Wyoming Area) unassisted goal.

Four-straight goals by the Cardinals over the next three minutes of game time extended their lead to nine, but Stone Sosnovik (New Tripoli, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) stopped the bleeding temporarily with back-to-back goals in a 41-second span to make it a 10-3 game with 5:17 remaining. Despite that, Catholic scored the final two goals of the half to lead 12-3 at the break.

Byers netted his second goal of the game for Wilkes three minutes into the third quarter, but a five-goal streak by Catholic immediately after put the Colonels away for good. They still managed another five goals over the final 20 minutes of action, but the Cardinals scored five goals of their own in that same amount of time to reach the final score of 22-9.

Sosnovik led Wilkes with four goals and two assists on seven shots, and Byers followed suit with a three-points game on two goals and one assist. Meanwhile for Catholic, Carickhoff dominated with four goals and four assists, while getting a six-point game from Steven Dezelic (2G, 4A) and five-point outings from Cullen Lotz (4G, 1A) and Burke Healy (1G, 4A). 

Between the pipes, Caleb Miller (Mohrsville, PA/Schuylkill Valley) racked up 27 saves but took the loss for Wilkes with 22 goals allowed in 60 minutes. Colton Manorek got the win for the Cardinals with just one save and three goals allowed in 30 minutes of action.

Wilkes will look to bounce back on Saturday, April 4 with a home matchup against Goucher College. The game begins at 1 p.m.