AMHERST, Mass. – Playing under the lights in a massive Little 3 showdown, the No. 15 ranked Wesleyan men's lacrosse team came through with a dominant showing to defeat No. 7 Amherst, 17-13, on Wednesday night. A 10-0 run that spanned three quarters was enough to send the Cardinals (7-2, 4-1 NESCAC) past the Mammoths (7-2, 3-2 NESCAC) for the first time on the road since 2017.
 
It's tough to envision the Cardinals playing better than in a span of nearly 30 minutes from the later stages of the first quarter to the 3:10 mark of the third quarter, wherein Wesleyan scored 10 goals and held the Mammoths scoreless. After DJ Dixon '24 scored back-to-back man-down goals to make it 14-3 Cardinals, the double-digit margin proved well more than enough to survive a late scare from the Mammoths who cut the deficit down to four with 2:53 remaining.
 
Goalkeeper Colin Hanley '23 played his best game of the season, totaling a season-high 17 saves including nine in the first half alone where he allowed just three goals as the Cardinals led 10-3 at halftime.
 
The midfield duo of DJ Dixon '24 and CK Giancola '24 put in tremendous performances, with Dixon totaling career-highs in points (seven) and assists (four) while recording his sixth straight multi-goal game. Giancola, meanwhile, tied his career-high with six goals, which he just set in the Cardinals' previous game, a win over Hamilton last Saturday. He has already surpassed his debut season goal total (21 in 19 games) as he has 25 in just eight games so far in 2023 including 12 in the last two games alone.
 
Neither side separated in the first quarter, with the Cardinals scoring twice in the opening 2:25 before Amherst answered back with two of their own. Wesleyan scored three of the final four goals of the period, however, to take a 5-3 lead into the second.
 
Giancola completed his hat trick with a goal with just 12 seconds left in the first, setting the stage for the second quarter where Wesleyan outscored Amherst 5-0. Hanley saved all five of Amherst's shots on-goal in the frame while Matt Gill '23 scored twice to highlight an all-important second quarter that ended with Wesleyan leading 10-3.
 
The goals continued to pour in at the start of the second half, with Wesleyan scoring four more goals, the last three all scored in a span of 1:20 to make it 14-3 Cardinals. After Giancola scored his fifth of the night, Dixon broke loose for back-to-back unassisted man-down goals just 21 seconds apart. Those were the first man-down goals scored by Wesleyan this season.
 
Amherst scored for the first time in a span of 29:45 as Bob Gross put in a man-up goal, but Justin Hazard '23 scored to end the third and Alex Moynihan '24 finished a feed from Jack Raba '23 as Wesleyan led 16-5 with 13:09 remaining.
 
The Mammoths mounted a furious comeback bid, scoring seven times in just under 10 minutes to lower the deficit down to just four goals with 2:53 left. Amherst's Nicholas Kopp won the ensuing faceoff and the Mammoths' Tanyr Krummenacher saw his shot on-goal saved by Hanley, loomed large down the stretch.
 
Wesleyan then killed over a minute in possession before Amherst got the ball back, scoring a man-up goal with 25 seconds left. Needing three more goals to tie the score, Tyler Campbell '25 put all rally hopes to bed by winning the next faceoff before assisting on Giancola's sixth goal of the night – the third man-down goal of the game for Wesleyan.
 
The Cardinals were outshot in this one 47-39 including a 20-5 margin in the fourth quarter. Where the game was won was in the cage as Hanley made 17 saves compared to just nine for Amherst's goalkeeper Mitch Likins.
 
Another big Top 10 road showdown looms as Wesleyan next heads to face No. 6 Middlebury in Vermont on Saturday at 1 PM.