For nearly an entire half, the Wilmington College men's lacrosse team executed its game plan to near perfection. However, the Fightin' Quakers couldn't maintain its pace and fell to Capital Wednesday, 15-8, in Ohio Athletic Conference action at Williams Stadium.
"We did a real good job of controlling the tempo in the first half," said Wilmington head coach Domenic Marzano. "In the second half, (Capital) came out with more energy, and we couldn't find our groove."
Capital scored with just 12 seconds remaining in the first half to break a 4-4 tie heading into the break. It seemed to vault the momentum into the purple jerseys. The Crusaders carried those good feelings over the final 30 minutes of the game.
Wilmington won eight-of-11 face-offs in the first half, but went 2-for-14 in the second half – including 0-for-7 in the third quarter. Not only were the Fightin' Quakers struggling to win face-offs, Capital peppered the WC with 30 shots. In comparison, Wilmington only had eight shots in the second half.
The Fightin' Quakers scored twice in the final 46 seconds of the first period to take a 2-1 lead, but CU retaliated with two markers to open the second period. Wilmington reclaimed the lead, its last of the game, with two straight goals of its own. Unfortunately, Capital scored eight of the next 10 goals spanning the end of the second and all of the third period.
Sophomore Alexander Gossard (Galloway, OH/Hilliard Bradley) led the team with five goals, and sophomore Jalen Jackson (Hilliard, OH/Bradley) distributed five assists. Freshman Nick Perry (Carmel, IN) added two goals for Wilmington, while freshman Reid Delaney (Wooster, OH/Wooster) finished with two assists.
Freshman Paul Koerbel (Maineville, OH/Kings) finished with 19 saves for the Fightin' Quakers.
Wilmington (4-8 overall, 0-2 OAC) travels to Mount Union 2 p.m. Friday in an Ohio Athletic Conference game.