WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's lacrosse team outscored rival Earlham College 9-3 to claim a 14-8 victory in the Quaker Bowl Rivalry at Williams Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Wilmington scored the first four goals of the game including a game-opening goal from Jadon Flannery at the 11:25 mark of the first quarter and a hat trick from Connor Judge. Wilmington looked close out the first 15 minutes up 4-0, but a turnover in its defensive half led to an Earlham goal with five seconds to play in the period.
That goal at the end of the quarter fueled Earlham's momentum as the visitors outscored the hosts 4-1 in the second period to tie things at halftime. Coincidentally, the entire first half was played without either team committing a penalty.
Wilmington, which beat Earlham 21-0 in the first meeting between the Quaker schools last year, scored four goals in the first five minutes of the third quarter to regain a 9-5 advantage. Earlham would get score two of the final three goals of the third quarter, but once again, the hosts scored the first four goals of a period. Four different Fightin' Quakers found the back of the net to begin the fourth quarter and second the win.
"We definitely started slow today," Head Men's Lacrosse Coach Jeff Arneson said. "Parker [Blumberg] got settled in later in the game and got our offense flowing. Connor [Judge] had a great game for us offensively."
Wilmington held a 50-22 edge in shots as well as winning 15-of-23 faceoffs. Both teams tallied 19 clears while the hosts earned a 36-23 edge in ground balls.
Individually, Judge led all scorers with seven goals on 11 shots on goal including two assists. Parker Blumberg netted three goals while Flannery, Andrew Miller, Austin Young and Isaac Louis Charles all scored once. Charles led the team with seven ground balls. Joel Dominguez led Earlham with four goals in defeat.
Reed Beavers picked up his first win in net making five saves while Josh Perkins dipped to 1-1 after saving 18 shots and surrendering 14 goals.
With the win, Wilmington gets its sixth points in the yearly Quaker Bowl Rivalry with Earlham.
Wilmington (1-2) returns to action at Thiel College (Pennsylvania) on March 13.
