Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz
PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. - - Five third-quarter goals powered #14 Pace past the Wilmington University men's lacrosse team on Saturday, winning by a final score of 10-4 in what was an otherwise close contest at Northwell Stadium.
Wilmington drops to 0-3 on the year against nationally ranked opponents, but they've held their own in all three games. They now sit with a .500 record at 3-3, with seven of their final eight regular-season contests coming against CACC opponents. They're already 1-0 in the conference following a win against Caldwell earlier in the week.
The Wildcats were first to get on the board, taking a 2-0 lead in the first after goals from Ian Betts and Cole Hamberger. Pace responded to Hamberger's goal with one of their own only 23 seconds later, and then tallied another before the period ended. The only goal in the second belonged to Pace, sending them into halftime up 3-2 in the lowest scoring game Wilmington has played in this year.
The Setters scored shortly into the third while up a man, but Andrew Dzubak brought the Wildcats back to within one goal a couple of minutes later with a man-up goal of his own. Pace scored two goals back-to-back at the 9:18 and 9:02 marks, added another at the 6:36 mark, and then tacked on their fifth of the quarter with 14 seconds to go on a man advantage. The home team scored two more times in the fourth to put the game out of reach for Wilmington, though Josh Lovely did add on to the final score with a goal inside the final 30 seconds of play.
Wilmington turned the ball over 20 times, with 15 of those giveaways caused by Pace. The Setters also picked up 50 ground balls compared to the Wildcats' 38.
Kyle Parker was the only Wildcat with multiple assists, helping Betts and Dzubak score their goals. Daniel Flynn led the team with eight ground balls while making 13 saves in goal. Connor Widmer, Aidan Vicidomini, and Brian McGarvey went a combined 6-18 on faceoffs.
Wilmington will be back home at the 'Plex for their next contest, which will be against CACC foe Georgian Court on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m.