Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - - The Wilmington University men's lacrosse team wrapped up another perfect season of CACC play on Wednesday, defeating Holy Family by a final score of 26-11 at Tiger Field in Philadelphia in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference matchup.
The Wildcats end the regular season with a 10-4 record and an 8-0 mark against conference opponents. They have now won 28 regular season conference games in a row, dating back to the 2023 season when Chestnut Hill defeated them 15-10 in Philadelphia. The Tigers, meanwhile, are 7-6 on the year with a 4-4 record against CACC opponents and are locked into the five seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
Wilmington exploded out of the gate, with Josh Weston burying a goal just 12 seconds into the contest. Ian Betts followed with a goal two minutes later, and then Josh Lovely got on the board shortly after to make it 3-0. The Tigers scored a goal at the 8:14 mark to make it 3-1, but the Wildcats rattled off four unanswered to end the quarter, including two more by Lovely.
The second quarter ended up being an even 5-5 split between the two teams, after Wilmington started the period on a 3-1 run. Holy Family scored four goals in the final seven minutes of the half, but Wilmington mixed in a pair by Andrew Dzubak to keep the deficit at six, 12-6, going into the break.
Holy Family scored a goal on the man advantage to open the third, but Wilmington went on a 6-1 scoring run over the next eight and a half minutes to create a ten-goal separation at 18-8. Each team scored inside the final five minutes to make it 19-9 going to the fourth.
The Wildcats posted their third seven-goal period of the game in the fourth, opening with five unanswered to give them the largest lead of the game at 24-9. Holy Family was able to get into double digits before the game ended, though, with both teams scoring two more times to settle the score at 26-11.
Andrew Dzubak led all scorers with six goals and a pair of assists. Josh Lovely was right behind him, using his first-quarter hat trick to propel him to five goals on the day, while also dishing out three assists. Ian Betts had four goals and three assists, and Carter Earl, Josh Weston, and Patrick Craig each had a pair of goals. Kyle Parker tied with Betts and Lovely for the team lead in assists with three.
Connor Widmer and Brian McGarvey dominated the faceoff game, going 19-22 with 10 ground balls and 14-19 with eight ground balls, respectively. Among non-faceoff men, Josh Weston led the team with six ground balls. Julian Businsky was busy defensively as well, causing a team-high four turnovers.
Daniel Flynn was solid in goal, making eight saves against 17 shots before ceding to Caleb Secrist in the closing minutes of the game. Secrist made two saves against four shots.
Next up is the CACC Semifinals for Wilmington, as they await the winner of the 4/5 First Round matchup this weekend. The Semifinal game will be played at the WU Athletics Complex next Wednesday, March 29, with opening faceoff set for 3:30 p.m.