ADRIAN, MI - The Wilmington College men's lacrosse team unleashed 41 shots, including 24 shots on goal, as the Fightin' Quakers beat Adrian, 13-10, Saturday in non-conference action at Docking Stadium.
It marked the first career win for head coach Bryan Habick.
"Playing Adrian College on the road and coming out with a win was a great way to start the season," said Habick. "Anytime you can lose the turnover battle and come away with a win is a great day. One of our most important players throughout the game was Tanner Diment."
Diment (Midland, MI/Midland), a freshman, went 16-for-26 in faceoffs.
With the game tied at 10 late in the fourth quarter, the Fightin' Quakers scored the final three goals to seal the season-opening win. Senior Reid Delaney (Wooster, OH/Wooster) scored off a pass from senior Chris Hein (McKinney, TX/McKinney) with 3:58 remaining. The pair combined for an insurance goal two minutes later as Hein scored off a dish from Delaney.
Delaney and Hein were crucial to the offense all game long combining on six goals and seven assists. Delaney finished with three goals and four assists, while Hein had three goals and three assists.
Junior Jhordan Lang (Sunbury, OH/Big Walnut) finished the scoring with his third goal of the game with 48 seconds remaining.
Going into the fourth period, Wilmington led the Bulldogs 10-8, but Adrian came out quick scoring two goals in the first two minutes of the period. Before WC seized control with the final three scores.
Penalties played a huge part of the early scoring as three of the first five goals were scored in power play situations, but at the end of one – Wilmington led 4-3. Both teams scored twice in the second period to allow the Fightin' Quakers to maintain its one goal lead.
Adrian opened up the third period with a goal tying up the game 6-6, and AC took a two-goal lead by scoring three in a row in the third period. Wilmington went on a run of its own scoring four straight goals to end the period with a lead.
Senior goalkeeper Paul Koerbel (Maineville, OH/ Kings) earned the win, finished with 12 saves on the day. He accumulated seven saves in the fourth quarter to help the Fightin' Quakers close out the first victory of the season.
"We have a lot of work to do when we get back to Wilmington, but this was a great win to start our season," said Habick. "We will need to focus on the turnover aspect throughout this game, but in general I am very pleased with how we were able to finish in the fourth quarter."
Wilmington (1-0) returns to action 2 p.m. Saturday, hosting LaRoche in non-conference action on Townsend Field in Williams Stadium.
