BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Wilkes University men's lacrosse team fell to the Moravian University Greyhounds 21-8 Saturday afternoon on the road.
The Colonels fall to 4-12 (1-7 Landmark) this season, while the Greyhounds improve to 10-5 (5-3 Landmark).
Moravian jumped out to a 2-0 lead just six minutes into the game thanks to goals from Ryan Kokoszka and Hunter Klapmuts. However, the Colonels settled in quickly to keep the game from getting out of hand.
With 4:39 to play in the first, Austin Sosnovik (New Tripoli, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) got Wilkes on the board to make it 2-1, then his brother Stone Sosnovik (New Tripoli, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) found the back of the net to tie the game at 1:58.
Another Sosnovik goal with 42 seconds left gave the Colonels their first lead of the game, but Klapmuts scored his second goal with 10 seconds left to tie the game going into the second quarter.
With new momentum, the Greyhounds dominated the second by scoring all six goals thanks to five different goal scorers. That gave Moravian a 9-3 lead at the break.
Tim Hartka (Phoenix, MD/Calvert Hall) scored the first goal of the third quarter at 13:01 to make it a five-goal game, but the Greyhounds scored seven-straight goals over the next four minutes to push their lead to double-digits.
Down 16-4 midway through the third, Wilkes scored three-straight goals thanks to Hartka and Anthony DiFrancesco (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) to make it a more respectable game, but Moravian finished the game on a 5-1 run.
For the game, the Greyhounds outshot the Colonels 66-31, including 38-21 in shots on goal. They also grabbed more ground balls (48-27) and dominated the face off battle 26-7. The Colonels were perfect on extra man opportunities (2-2), while the Greyhounds went 3-4.
Hartka led Wilkes with a four-point game (2G 2A), and both DiFrancesco (2G 1A) and A. Sosnovik (1G 2A) had three-point games. Caleb Miller (Mohrsville, PA/Schuylkill Valley) took the loss in net with 17 saves and 21 goals allowed.
On the Moravian side, Nick Coffaro tallied one goal and seven assists to lead the charge, and got seven-point outings from Kokoszka (6G 1A) and Jack Minetti (5G 2A). Their goalkeeper Liam Kelly earned the win with 13 saves and eight goals allowed in 55:38.
The Colonels wrap up the regular season on Wednesday, April 22, against Lycoming on the road. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.
