c/o Steve McLaughlin Photography

It looks like there’s no stopping Wesleyan men’s lacrosse this year. The season got off to an excellent start, with the team crushing Bates in a 22–8 victory at home on Saturday, March 5. Top scorers for the Cardinals included Justin Hazard ’24 and Pat Doherty ’23 with four goals each, a career high for Doherty. Matt Gill ’23 and Spencer Robbins ’22 each scored three times in career highs, though both have gone on to beat those personal records in later games. In total, 10 Cardinals scored at least once, demonstrating the impressive depth of the team.

The Cards then followed this win up with three out-of-conference victories over State University of New York Maritime College, No. 20 Stevens Institute of Technology (22–5), and Salve Regina University (25–11) on March 9, March 13, and March 16, respectively. During this string of victories, Wesleyan averaged an impressive 23.5 goals per game. Among the standout performances from these games was Gill, whose scoring average from these first four games totaled 8.5 points per game (34 points total), putting him at No. 1 in the nation for average points scored.

Unfortunately, this win streak came to an end with the Cardinals’ narrow 9–10 loss to Colby on Saturday, March 19. The Mules were behind 9–7 early in the fourth quarter, but managed to tie it up to 9–9 with 8:42 remaining. Wesleyan made use of the remaining time with seven shots in less than five minutes, but ultimately could not get any to the back of the net. At 1:17, Colby called a timeout with possession, eventually clenching the victory after scoring a goal with only 48 seconds remaining.

But the Cardinals follow-up game showed that this was certainly not the end for them as they won a 23–6 victory over the United States Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday, March 23. Once again, the Red and Black proved their formidable offensive skills as a team unit with 12 players scoring at least once. But the standout of the night was undoubtedly Jake Sexton ’22 with a career high 10 points from four goals and six assists. He now joins his teammate Gill and Harry Stanton ’18 as the only players to put up 10 points in a single game since the 1990s.

The Cardinals’ next matchup on Saturday, March 26 against No. 19 Bowdoin proved to be the biggest challenge of the season for the team. While Hazard scored the first goal of the game, the Polar Bears followed this up with eight consecutive goals and continued to dominate for the remainder of the game, producing a final score of 16–10. Despite the loss, goalkeeper Colin Hanley ’23 had a standout performance with a career high of 26 saves.

Fortunately, the Cardinals have clearly learned from these losses and are now definitively back on track. 

On Sunday, April 3rd they won a close 10–8 victory over Hamilton. The victory was aided by Tyler Campbell ’25 and Kevin Talbot ’24 who both performed incredibly on faceoffs, going a combined 15-for-21 (71.4 percent), which gave the team key extra possessions in this close matchup. Hanley was, once again, excellent in net with 14 saves. 

On Wednesday, April 6th the Red and Black were able to overcome a first quarter deficit of 7–4 to clench a stellar 21–14 victory over No. 20 Amherst. The win broke a program record for the most goals ever scored against Amherst, which was previously set at 17 in 2017.

On Saturday, April 9th, the Cardinals won what is arguably their most important and thrilling win of the season in a 12–11 victory over No. 16 Middlebury. 

In the first period, the Panthers outshot the Cardinals 19–4 but still could not find the back of the net. Still, the Cardinals made use of their possession with goals by Robbins, Sam Jean ’23, DJ Dixon ’24, and CK Giancola ’24. The Panthers gained momentum in the next two quarters and continued to outshoot the Red and Black. By the end of the third quarter the score was at a close 10–7. The fourth quarter opened with 3 more goals by Middlebury bringing the score to a 10–10 tie. The teams then traded goals moving the score up to 11–11. Thankfully, though, the Cardinals proved their perseverance in the face of strong competition and managed to break the tie with a brilliant goal by Robbins with 32 seconds remaining. 

On Wednesday, April 13, the Red and Black won a 20–14 victory over Trinity and Sexton became the 35th player in program history to reach 100 career points. He currently has 64 goals and 38 assists for 102 career points in 35 games. Sexton and Robbins led the team that night with four goals and three assists apiece.

The victories prove that the Cardinals have what it takes to clinch the win against evenly-matched opponents, which, after their narrow loss to Colby with less than two minutes remaining, exemplifies the team’s growth and skill that will be critical in their upcoming matchups. 

Coming up, the Cards will take on No. 8 Tufts on Saturday, April 16 in what promises to be an excellent matchup. Both teams are 9–2 overall, after Tufts’ losses against Union College (17–12) and Middlebury (21–14). Hopefully, with the Cardinals’ stellar performance on both offense and defense throughout the season, the team will be ready for the challenge.

Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu.