CRAWFORDSVILLE, IN – Senior Jalen Jackson scored three goals with four assists as the Wilmington College men’s lacrosse team posted its first win of the season, beating Wabash in non-conference action, 9-8, Wednesday at Mud Hollow Stadium.
“We cleaned up the clearing and unforced errors today,” said Wilmington head coach Domenic Marzano. “That was one of the focuses in practice after all the troubles with it in game one. It really helped us control the tempo of the game.
“We are still working to find our team identity,” said Marzano. “We’re going to keep working on getting better as a team as we get closer to the OAC schedule in April.”
While it was sophomore Matt Dugan (Hilliard, OH/Davidson) who scored the first and last goals of the game, Jackson (Hilliard, OH/Bradley) had a hand in every other Wilmington tally. Jackson also finished with a team-high seven groundballs.
Wilmington trailed 3-1 early in the second period before Jackson assisted on a goal by senior Alexander Gossard (Galloway, OH/Hilliard Bradley), and then tallied the equalizer with 21 seconds remaining in the period. However, the Little Giants took the halftime lead with a goal 14 seconds later.
The second half began with a barrage of goals as the teams combined for five goals in a five-minute span.
“We put up 42 shots and only found the back of the net on nine,” said Marzano. “Shooting will be a major focus leading up to next Wednesday’s game. We were getting some good looks at the cage and couldn’t manage to bury a lot of those opportunities.”
Gossard and Jackson combined on the first goal of the second half, a short-handed marker, and then Jackson gave WC a lead with a goal which was assisted by junior Reid Delaney (Wooster, OH/Wooster).
Wabash knotted the score and Delaney put the Fightin’ Quakers back on top for good with Jackson getting the assist. Wilmington took a two-goal lead as Jackson scored on an unassisted goal.
Sophomore Jake Ladendorf (Crown Point, IN/Crown Point) earned his first collegiate win in goal, recording four saves on 12 shots.
Dugan and Gossard each finished with two goals for Wilmington.
Wilmington (1-1) hosts Hanover 7 p.m. Wednesday in non-conference action on Townsend Field in Williams Stadium.
Wilmington was 17-of-17 on their clear attempts, while the Little Giants were 18-of-19.
WC outshot its opponent, 42-29, including a 27-11 advantage in the second half.
Wabash won 14 of the 21 faceoffs.
Wilmington committed six infractions for six minutes of penalty time, while Wabash only had two fouls for 90 seconds of penalty time.
