ADA – The proof is in the pudding, so to speak, for the Wilmington College men's lacrosse team.
The daily, weekly and yearly improvements were on full display Friday in the Fightin' Quakers' 12-10 loss to Baldwin Wallace in the Ohio Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
"I thought we played a good game tonight," said Wilmington head coach Domenic Marzano. "It was a back and forth game and our guys kept fighting. It was great to see us make up for a couple of goals on a nice second half run. They just made a few more plays then we did."
BW is the second team this season which beat Wilmington by double figures a season ago to need a late push to record the victory. The Yellow Jackets claimed the victory by scoring four of the game's final five goals in the final 7:14.
Wilmington opened the final period by taking advantage of the Yellow Jackets man-down defensive unit. The Fightin' Quakers tallied three power-play goals in a two-minute span. Trailing by two entering the final 15 minutes, junior Alexander Gossard (Galloway, OH/Hilliard Bradley) scored off an assist from junior Evan Osborne (Middletown, OH/Lebanon) to pull WC to within one.
The scoring barrage continued as sophomore Reid Delaney (Wooster, OH/Wooster) and freshman Devon Maki (Pickerington, OH/Central) scored assisted goals to give Wilmington the lead. Freshman Jhordan Lang (Sunbury, OH/Big Walnut) assisted on Delaney's goal, and Delaney assisted on Maki's goal.
"It was an exciting game to be a part of," said Marzano. "Obviously, I wish the outcome was different but we came together tonight. Everybody was into it and keeping each other hyped. They became a team today; played with a lot of emotion and for each other."
Junior Jalen Jackson (Hilliard, OH/Bradley) gave WC the lead with the lone goal in the first period. BW claimed the lead with a pair of second-period goals, but Wilmington reclaimed the advantage with three consecutive tallies.
The teams traded goals over the final 8:21 of the second period, and the Fightin' Quakers took a one-goal lead into halftime.
Baldwin Wallace dominated the third period, scoring four of the five goals to build the aforementioned two-goal lead heading into the fourth.
"We need to get better in certain situations," said Marzano. "I need to improve the practice plans to help with that. That will be our goal next game against Capital. We need to dedicate ourselves to watching film and playing smarter."
Gossard led the team with three goals, while Jackson added two goals and two assists. Delaney recorded two goals and one assist in the loss.
Wilmington (7-3) had its five-game winning streak snapped, and will return home 7 p.m. Wednesday to host Capital.