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NEWARK, Del. - - Another fast start carried the Wilmington University men's lacrosse team to a victory, opening its 2026 home slate with an 11-6 win over Barton on Saturday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
With the win, the Wildcats have started the season 2-0 for just the second time in program history, joining the 2020 team that started 5-0 before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Saturday, the Wildcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead before leading 6-2 after the first quarter. Four more goals in the second quarter gave the Wildcats a 10-2 lead at the halftime break. They only scored one goal in the second half, taking an 11-2 lead in the third quarter, but hung on as Barton could only close the gap with four goals the rest of the way.
It all started again with the face-off on Saturday, as Connor Widmer and Brian McGarvey combined to go 8-for-9 in the first quarter and 3-for-4 in the second. Ian Betts scored quickly off the first face-off of the game, picking up a ground ball off a save and stuffing it home just 46 seconds into the contest. Andrew Dzubak then scored back-to-back unassisted goals to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead with 12:06 left in the first.
Barton got back into the game with back-to-back goals but then Andrew Dzubak scored his third straight for the Wildcats. Gavin Paraschak trickled one home with 3:16 to play and then Ian Betts added his second of the game with 1:20 to play, giving the Wildcats a 6-2 lead after the first quarter.
Josh Weston scored two goals in the second quarter, the second on the man-advantage with seven seconds left to send the Wildcats into the halftime break with a 10-2 lead.
Andrew Dzubak scored his fifth and final goal of the game with 10:23 to play in the third, but then the Wildcats wouldn't find the back of the net for the rest of the game. Daniel Flynn and the defense held strong though, only allowing one goal in the third quarter to take an 11-3 lead into the fourth.
Barton scored a pair of quick goals to start the fourth, but then the Wildcats settled in, closing out the contest. The Bulldogs only scored once more with 8:21 to play.
Andrew Dzubak led with five goals on Saturday while Ian Betts scored three goals and added an assist. Josh Weston scored two goals and Gavin Paraschak had a goal and an assist. Tyler Quinn had five ground balls and Connor Widmer went 10-for-14 on faceoffs with five ground balls. Daniel Flynn made 13 saves in the victory.
The Wildcats return to action next Saturday at home, welcoming nationally ranked Mercy to the WU Athletics Complex. The game is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off in Newark.
