MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The No. 14 ranked Wesleyan men's lacrosse team bounced back from Wednesday's home defeat to No. 15 Stevens in a big way, defeating Bates 22-11 from Smith Field on a brutally cold Saturday afternoon with heavy rainfall. The Cardinals (6-1, 3-0 NESCAC) remain unbeaten in conference play while the Bobcats (3-5, 0-4 NESCAC) are winless in the league.
 
Coming off a game wherein the Ducks outshot Wesleyan 55-25, the Cardinals generated a 64-31 advantage in shots in Saturday's contest. Bates had problems with the weather and the Cardinal defense, committing 27 turnovers for the game. Wesleyan was credited with 22 caused turnovers, which is a new single-game team record, surpassing the previous record of 21 set last season in a 18-2 win at Maritime.
 
A high-scoring first quarter saw the two sides combine for 10 goals, while neither side scored consecutive goals for the final nine minutes of the stanza. After missing Wednesday's game against Stevens due to injury, CK Giancola '24 made a splash in his return to the lineup, scoring two of the first three goals for Wesleyan, finishing with four on the day. Justin Hazard '23 scored the final goal of the quarter, giving him four points already and Wesleyan a 6-4 lead.
 
The Cardinals made their move in the second, outscoring Bates 7-2 to take a 12-6 lead into halftime. Wesleyan outshot Bates 17-6 in the quarter and 39-13 in the first half alone. Ben Burns '26 scored twice in a span of 28 seconds and Charlie Knapp '26 later scored an unassisted goal to build a 9-5 Cardinal lead. A 4-0 Wesleyan run followed in the final 4:35 of the quarter, as Burns netted another followed by unassisted goals from Will Miller '26, Knapp, and Tyler Campbell '25.
 
Wesleyan's run of four unanswered goals continued to start the third quarter as DJ Dixon '24 scored twice and Burns netted his fifth on the day to give Wesleyan a double-digit lead at 16-6. Connor Hartman scored for Bates, ending a scoreless drought of 15+ minutes, but the damage was done in the 10-1 Cardinal run as the closest the Bobcats got was an eight-goal deficit in the remainder of play.
 
Another extended run, this time 5-1 in favor of Wesleyan, saw the Cardinal lead expand to as much as 21-9 midway through the fourth. Giancola scored on the only man-up opportunity of the day for Wesleyan, with James Bailey '26 dishing out his fourth assist of the game on the play, before Gavin Lechner '27 scored on a transition feed from Emmett Schillinger '25 and Devin O'Sullivan '25 wrapped around the cage to cap the run. Lachlan Simmers '27 scored his first career goal late, accounting for the 22-11 final score.
 
Burns kept his streak of multi-goal games alive as he finished with five, matching his season and career-high, as he has scored at least two goals in all seven games this season.
 
Hazard and Knapp both finished with two goals and three assists. For Hazard, he leads the team with 29 points in 2024 while Knapp's five points are a career-high.
 
Bailey finished with four assists, setting a new career-high, while Giancola's four goals gives him three games with 4+ goals in six appearances this season.
 
Dixon had one of his best games of the season, recording three goals and one assist for four points. Alex Moynihan '24 tallied three points (one goal, two assists), matching his career-high.
 
Accounting for the new single-game team record, Joe Hurton '27, Burns, and Charlie Silver '25 each finished with three caused turnovers to tie for the team-lead. Cole Ward '25, Schillinger, Jack Raba '23, and Jared Cohen '25 added two apiece to help account for the 22 on the day for the Cardinals.
 
At the face off X, Jackson Tinari '26 had a big day, going 13-for-18 with four ground balls. Campbell went 7-of-14 with three ground balls and his first goal of the season. As a team, Wesleyan went 20-for-36.
 
The Cardinals enter the thick of the NESCAC schedule, continuing next Saturday with a 1 PM start at home against Middlebury.