MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Another day, another sensational performance turned in by the No. 8 nationally-ranked Wesleyan men's lacrosse team as the Cardinals defeated Salve Regina, 25-11, at home on a picture-perfect, early spring Wednesday afternoon. The Cardinals (4-0) weathered a strong opening quarter from the Seahawks (1-3), then outscored Salve 6-2 in the second quarter before going off for nine unanswered goals in the second half to score another lopsided win.
 
Coming in with the nation's second-highest scoring offense at 23 goals per game, Wesleyan only added to that season average as the 25 goals scored today ties a season-high while it continues a trend as the Cardinals have now scored at least 22 goals in all four games to open the season.
 
Also continuing his torrid start to the season is Matt Gill '23, who came in tied for second in the nation averaging eight points per game. After totaling 10 points on Sunday in a 22-5 win over then-No. 20 Stevens, Gill put up another 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in today's win over the Seahawks. His seven assists are the most for any Cardinal in a single-game since the 1990's while he bumped his scoring average up to 8.5 points per game (34 points in four games), which now ranks No. 1 in the nation.
 
Scoring on four of Gill's seven assists, it was also a career day for Justin Hazard '23 as he finished with nine points including a career-high six goals, the most scored by a Cardinal in a game this season. Hazard was ultra-efficient, scoring on six of his seven shot attempts for the game while he added three assists to give him nine points for the day and 24 (14 goals, 10 assists) on the season.
 
Jake Sexton '22 was involved throughout the day as he matched his career-high with five goals, adding one assist to give him a season-high six points. He added three ground balls and two caused turnovers to his stat line for the day. Sexton has nine goals over the last two games, giving him 13 for the season.
 
A key trend in the win over Salve was at the face-off X, as Wesleyan dominated early and often to the tone of 33 wins against just seven losses, setting a new program record for most face-off wins in a single-game. Sporting a combined 82.5 percent win rate at the X, the three Cardinals who took face-offs all excelled including Tyler Campbell '25 (17-for-19), Kevin Talbot '24 (12-for-17) and Julian Barba '23 (4-for-4). Heading into this game as the NESCAC leader in face-off win percentage, the Cardinals will certainly remain in the top spot in the league rankings while elevating up the national leaderboard (11^th entering the day).
 
Even with the one-sided final score, it was very much a game early on as Salve scored first off the stick of Stephen McAllister and continued to show fight with well-worked goals throughout the quarter. In the face off the early Salve push, Wesleyan's offense went goal-for-goal with the Seahawks as goals came from all over the lineup including the first career goal for John Maranto '25.
 
Right after Salve scored twice in a span of 56 seconds late in the frame to tie the score at 5, Hazard scored his second of the quarter just 21 seconds later while Hazard then found Pat Doherty '22 in the final minute to make it 7-5 Wesleyan after one.
 
That two-goal late quarter swing helped flip momentum in favor of the Cardinals which carried over into the second as Wesleyan scored the first three goals of the period and five of the first six to open up a six-goal advantage. Hazard continued to score, netting his hat trick just 18 seconds into the quarter while Gill put away a Doherty feed almost seven minutes later followed up an EMO goal from Hazard.
 
Wesleyan's lead ballooned to 12-6 as Gill scored his second of the day with CK Giancola '24 getting involved with assists on back-to-back Wesleyan goals. Right when Salve seemed to find some footing with a Brendan Laundry goal with 17 seconds left in the half, DJ Dixon '24 made an incredible solo run up field, grabbing the ground ball off the face-off and carrying all the way deep into the Salve defensive end before finding the back of the net with just 4.1 seconds left in the half.
 
After trading goals in the early minutes of the third quarter, Wesleyan broke the game wide open with a 9-0 run between the third and fourth quarters as the Cardinal defense held the Seahawks without a goal for 16:23 of action while goals came from seven different Cardinals in the scoring spurt. Gill put an exclamation point on the 9-0 run with a behind the back goal from just beyond the crease as he finished off his day with a highlight-real goal that also signaled his 10^th point.
 
Maranto had a solid day across the board, contributing four ground balls and two caused turnovers as well as his first career goal. Fifteen different Cardinals had at least two ground balls as Wesleyan thoroughly dominated Salve in that department, sporting a 56-33 edge in ground balls for the game.
 
Colin Hanley '22 picked up his fourth win of the season in the cage, making eight saves while Noah Lin '24 and Sam Jewett '25 both came on for spot duty in the fourth quarter. Jewett made three saves in the final 4:45 of the game, good enough for a season and career high.
 
Laundry led the way for Salve, finishing with three goals and two assists for five points as the Seahawks played very well in the early going, becoming the first Wesleyan opponent to score double digit goals on the Cardinals this season.
 
Next up for Wesleyan is a trip to Waterville, Maine to take on the Colby Mules in a NESCAC Saturday afternoon showdown.