WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Wilmington College men’s lacrosse team trailed Hanover College by the slimmest of margins (4-3), but the Panthers held the Quakers scoreless in the second half to earn a 13-3 win in the season-opener for WC at Williams Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Panthers (1-1) opened the scoring early as Will Slover scored unassisted less than a minute into the game. Justen Shaw didn’t wait long to answer, however, as Wilmington won the face-off and Shaw scored less than 20 seconds later. Hanover, which led 2-1 after one quarter, relied on Colin O’Brien to score the next two goals to go up 4-1 early in the second. Once again, Shaw scored less than a minute later, and Andrew Chevrette found Garrett Murrell for the final goal of the half a man up.
Unfortunately for the hosts, Hanover dominated the second half of the game. The Panthers held a 29-13 edge in shots and all but put the game away with a seven-goal third quarter. In total, Hanover outshot Wilmington 52-30 while the Quakers won 12 of the 19 face-offs. The visitors forced 29 turnovers, however, and were a perfect 33-of-33 in clear attempts.
Jackson McKeigue earned the win in net, allowing three goals on 11 shots while Cody Everly dipped to 0-1 despite saving 21-of-34 shots on goal.
Zach Stone and O’Brien combined for seven goals for the Panthers while Shaw netted two for the Quakers.
Wilmington (0-1) heads to Earlham College for the Quaker Bowl Rivalry game at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
