WILMINGTON — The Wilmington College men’s lacrosse team opened its 2020 campaign with a 10-7 victory over Bethany College at Townsend Field Thursday night.

Andrew Miller, a senior from Plain City, kicked off the season with consecutive goals within 30 seconds of each other. A third goal would come from Jadon Flannery, also a senior mid-fielder, at the 9:55 mark in the first quarter giving the Quakers a 3-0 advantage.

Flannery committed a penalty with one minute remaining in the quarter, however, and Bethany’s Aarin Burton took advantage of the man-up opportunity by scoring the Bison’s first goal of the season. Wilmington wasted no time answering as Connor Judge capitalized on a turnover with 30 seconds left in the first to give the Quakers a 4-1 lead.

A fourth senior added a fifth goal in the second quarter as Zac Chuta scored in a man-up situation as a result of a slashing call against Bethany. Wilmington led 5-2 at halftime.

Bethany came out strong in the second half scoring two in a row and cutting the Fightin’ Quaker lead to 5-4. The tempo was pushed by both sides for the remaining five minutes in the third. This proved to be advantage for Wilmington as Austin Young, Chucta, and Judge all scored, preserving the 8-6 advantage.

The Fighting Quakers went on to score two more times in the fourth quarter off the sticks of Garrett Murrell and Flannery to seal the win.

Overall, Wilmington held a 55-27 edge in shots and won the ground game by picking up 32 of 55 ground balls. The Quakers also controlled the turnovers as Bethany gave the ball up 23 times and Wilmington only 15.

The men’s lacrosse team is back in action again Saturday at home against Anderson.