MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – It wasn't just pouring rain on Wednesday night, as the Wesleyan men's lacrosse team poured in a school record 30 goals, thumping Salve Regina in a 30-8 victory from Citrin Field in the Cardinals' 2024 home opener. Wesleyan improves to 2-0 on the season and 5-0 all-time against the Seahawks who drop to 1-3.
The 30-goal outburst breaks the previous school record for most goals scored in a game, which occurred back in 2010 when Wesleyan defeated Farmingdale State 26-4. A staggering 20 Cardinals had at least one point, including six who registered their first career point, while 15 different Cardinals scored in the 22-goal victory.
Justin Hazard '23 G'24 scored a career-high seven goals, adding two assists to match his career-high with nine points. The seven goals are the most scored by a Cardinal in a single-game since Harry Stanton '18 went off for eight goals against Tufts in 2017. Hazard's sixth goal on the night was the 100
th of his career, as he became the 13
th Cardinal in team history to reach 100 career goals.
Jack Raba '23, G'24 netted a career-high five goals, to go along with four assists, to set a new career-best with nine points on the night.
DJ Dixon '24 had a four-point night, totaling two goals and two assists, to reach the 100-point mark for his career, becoming the 39
th Cardinal to hit the milestone.
Will Miller '26 had a four-point night (two goals, two assists) while
Devin O'Sullivan '25 totaled three points (one goal, two assists) for a new career-high. Among the list of Cardinals who registered their first career points included
Gavin Lechner '27 (two goals),
Drew Zyskowski '27 (one goal, one assist),
Matt Morrow '27 (two goals),
Lachlan Simmers '27 (two assists),
Nolan Samson '27 (one goal), and
Devin Prettyman '27 (one goal).
Even with the lobsided final score, the game was all tied at 2-2 more than seven minutes into play before a 5-0 Cardinal run had Wesleyan seize control.
Ben Burns '26 scored twice in the five-goal scoring streak as the Cardinals outshot the Seahawks 23-8 and led 7-3 after the first quarter.
That surge continued into the second quarter where Wesleyan scored an unprecedented 10 goals, outscoring Salve 10-3 in the quarter to take a 17-6 lead into halftime. Hazard scored and Raba each scored three goals and had four points in the quarter while Dixon had three points. Wesleyan had a 4-0 run to start the quarter, all within a span of 2:56, while the Cardinals later put up a pair of 3-0 runs to account for the scoring.
The second half was more of the same as Wesleyan outscored Salve 13-2 after halftime, allowing just one goal in each of the quarters. After finishing the first half on a 3-0 run, Wesleyan scored the first four goals of the third quarter to extend their scoring run to seven unanswered.
As the Cardinal bench emptied, more goals came as Samson netted the first of his career before Lechner scored the first two of his career. All six Cardinal goals in the fourth quarter were scored by freshman including a pair of Morrow.
Wesleyan went 28-for-42 in face offs as all four Cardinals who saw time at the X finished above 50 percent on their opportunities.
Jackson Tinari '26 led the way with 11 face off wins in 16 attempts while
Devin Alton '25 went 10-for-16,
Jack Stanislaw '27 finished 5-for-8 with five ground balls, and
Tyler Campbell '25 was 2-for-2.
In goal,
Sam Jewett '25 picked up the win, making nine saves in 35+ minutes while allowing seven goals.
Conor Selfridge '26 came on in the third quarter and made two saves with one goal allowed.
Liam McCarthy '27 finished the last eight minutes in the cage and didn't face a shot attempt.
The Cardinals begin a three-game road swing starting with a Sunday afternoon neutral site matchup against Roanoke at Noon. The game will be played at the US Lacrosse Headquarters in Sparks, Maryland.
