Coming off the heels of a second consecutive Little Three championship, men’s lacrosse scored blowout wins when it returned to play against Gordon College and SUNY Farmingdale. With those two victories, the Cardinals jump to a 7-2 record, good enough for fourth overall in the NESCAC.

On Saturday, March 30, the Cardinals treated Gordon College to a dominant performance on the turf of Smith Field, starting off with an eight-goal first quarter. Wes scored 14 straight goals before Gordon was able to break the shutout with an unassisted goal late in the third. The Cards continued their dominance over the non-conference opponent, ultimately ravaging Gordon 15-1 with a 45-12-shot disparity. Leading the onslaught for Wesleyan were Remy Lieberman ’14, Matt Prezioso ’15, and David Murphy ’15. Lieberman was firing on all cylinders for the Cards, scoring three goals and chipping in two assists to contribute to his team-leading 14 goals for the year. Prezioso scored his first hat trick of the season and tacked on an assist, while Murphy supplemented the attack with three assists and a goal of his own.

WesLax rolled along to its next matchup at SUNY Farmingdale on Wednesday, April 3 to devour another non-conference foe. Wednesday’s matchup got off to another quick start for the Cards, as they notched six goals in the opening stanza. The Cards easily held off Farmingdale on their own turf, closing out the first half with a 9-2 lead en route to a 15-3 victory. Captain Brendan Hanley ’13 set the pace for Wesleyan, setting a career high with four goals to lead the offense.

The Cardinals tried out some new lines in the matchup, and the result was a great distribution of scoring throughout the lineup as 13 Cardinals contributed to the goal scoring effort. Graham Macnab ’14, Quentin Dellafera ’15, and Stephen Dodd ’15 each chipped in two goals apiece for the Cards.

On the defensive end, the Cardinals have been completely solid. Against Farmingdale, Mark Simmons ’14 and JD Dieterich ’13 split time between the pipes, and the keeper combo totaled 10 saves on the day. Even more impressive is Wesleyan’s goalkeeping prowess from a national standpoint—the Cardinal goalies lead Division III in goals-against average, led by Dieterich and his minuscule 0.94 GAA.

With the two victories, the Cardinals sport a 4-0 mark against non-conference squads, racking up those victories by an eye-popping 67-6 margin this season. The Cardinals will need this success to carry over into NESCAC play this weekend as they play host to Colby on Jackson Field.