WATERVILLE, Me. – Tied 7-7 at halftime, the Wesleyan men's lacrosse team outscored Colby 13-4 in the second half to defeat the Mules, 20-11, in the 2024 season opener from Seaverns Field. Wesleyan (1-0, 1-0 NESCAC) has won seven straight season-opening games dating back to 2018 while the Mules (0-1, 0-1 NESCAC) fall in the first game for first-year head coach Jake Bernhardt.
 
After not scoring for the final 12+ minutes of the first half, Wesleyan hit the Mules with five unanswered goals to start the third quarter, the first four of which were scored in the opening 4:15. Now sporting a 12-7 lead, the Cardinals saw Colby answer back with a pair of goals, but Wesleyan responded with a pair in the final two minutes of the quarter, taking a 14-9 lead into the fourth.
 
Colby won the opening faceoff of the fourth, but Emmett Schillinger '25 forced a turnover which led to what was the fifth goal of the day for Ben Burns '26. Wesleyan extended their lead with a man-up goal just 38 seconds later as Justin Hazard '23, G'24 found Jack Raba '23, G'24 at the wing, making it 16-9 Cardinals.
 
Another big scoring run late saw four different Cardinals score in another 4-0 run, accounting for the 20-11 final score on a chilly Saturday afternoon in Maine.
 
For Wesleyan, the 20 goals are tied for the second-most scored in a road game against a NESCAC opponent in team history. Wesleyan previously scored 20 in a win at Trinity in 2022 while the single-game record came last season when the Cardinals defeated Bates 24-5 in Lewiston. Nine Cardinals produced at least two points in Saturday's win at Colby.
 
Among the individual standouts included CK Giancola '24, who matched his career-high with seven points coming on four goals and three assists. His fourth point, which came on what was his third goal of the day (45 seconds into the third quarter), was the 100^th of his career. Giancola became the 38^th player in Wesleyan men's lacrosse history to reach the milestone, as he upped his career point total to 103 (65 goals, 38 assists) in 34 games played.
 
All three of Giancola's assists came on goals scored by Burns who had himself a day, scoring five times for his first career hat trick. Earning a starting nod for the first time in his career, Burns showed he's more than a threat on the man-up, as all five of his goals came when the two sides were playing even strength.
 
Both Raba and Hazard finished with two goals and one assist while Charlie Knapp '26 scored twice for his first career multi-goal game and Cole Ward '25 dished out two assists for his first career multi-point game.
 
In net, Sam Jewett '25 turned in a solid performance in what was just his third career start and first since a freshman in 2022. The junior goalkeeper finished with 11 saves and 10 goals allowed, finishing with a .524 save percentage, which is a new single-game career-high.
 
After Colby outshot the Cardinals 27-17 in the first half, it was one-way traffic in the second half as Wesleyan outshot the Mules 37-14 in the second half. Wesleyan played a clean game offensively throughout, committing just eight turnovers, while the Mules committed 20 turnovers for the game, totaling five in every quarter.
 
The Cardinals won the ground ball battle 30-29 despite finishing -10 on faceoffs (22-12). Giancola, Schillinger, Matt Rettinger '25, and Charlie Hoban '25 tied for the team-lead with three ground balls each.
 
Wesleyan returns to action on Wednesday, March 6 with the Cardinals' home opener at 4:30 PM against Salve Regina from Citrin Field.