Freshman Devon Maki had a hand in more than half of Wilmington's goals Tuesday as the Fightin' Quakers defeated Mount St. Joseph, 13-9, in non-conference action at Schueler Field.
Maki (Pickerington, OH/Central) tallied four goals with three assists to lead Wilmington. As the Lions controlled the third quarter to pull to within two, Maki scored two of the Fightin' Quakers' three goals to open the fourth as WC rebuilt a comfortable cushion. His first goal was unassisted, and then sophomore Nick Perry (Carmel, IN/Carmel) assisted on the second goal.
Junior Alexander Gossard (Galloway, OH/Hilliard Bradley) scored his fourth goal of the game, and the third of the fourth quarter scoring run, to push the Wilmington advantage to five goals.
"We played a solid three quarters," said Wilmington head coach Domenic Marzano. "We still need to figure out how to play at a high level for all four quarters though. Once again, the third quarter was not great for us but these guys continued to keep their calm; which led to a great fourth quarter to seal the deal."
Mount St. Joseph displayed some fight, scoring two goals in 45 seconds with less than four minutes left in the game to climb back to within three goals. But, they couldn't get any closer. The Lions won the ensuing faceoff to reclaim possession, and even unleashed two shots, however, freshman Tanner Callend (Hilliard, OH/Davidson) forced a final turnover.
The turnover was converted into the final nail in the coffin as junior Evan Osborne (Middletown, OH/Lebanon) scored with 46 seconds remaining.
Wilmington scored four times in each of the first two quarters to take an 8-3 lead into halftime. MSJ opened the game's scoring, but WC scored four unanswered – and never trailed from that point.
The Fightin' Quakers continued to struggle on faceoff, losing 6-of-26, but they were able to force 22 turnovers. They were also efficient on clear attempts, being successful on 27-of-28 attempts.
"I was really happy with our clear game tonight," said Marzano. "Our defense was patient on their looks to the midfielders which led to a lot of good possession for us. Our Attack did a great job of getting the offense settled into their sets. Patience was a big part of the offense tonight. Everybody got a touch and we made some really good looks.
Defensively, Austin Johnston played great on ball tonight. He was huge in the clear game as well as guarding their top offensive player very well. He shut his guy down tonight for no goals and no assists. It really helped us keep the lead tonight."
Osborne finished with three goals, while freshman Jhordan Lang (Sunbury, OH/Big Walnut) added two goals and an assist. Junior Jalen Jackson (Hilliard, OH/Bradley) chipped in with two assists.
Sophomore Paul Koerbel (Maineville, OH/Kings) finished with 13 saves in earning the victory.