MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Trailing 7-4 late in the second quarter, the No. 7 Wesleyan men's lacrosse team scored eight unanswered goals over the final 34:45 of play to defeat Trinity 13-7 on Wednesday night from Citrin Field. The Cardinals (7-3, 5-2 NESCAC) get back in the win column and defeat the Bantams (7-5, 2-5 NESCAC) for the 13^th time in the past 15 meetings.
 
Looking to shake off a tough overtime loss to Tufts last Saturday, the Cardinals saw the Bantams seize hold of the momentum in the early going. It was 2-1 Wesleyan late in the first quarter until three straight Bantam goals in a span of just 1:20 minutes of game action saw Trinity take a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.
 
Even though Gavin Lechner '27 scored twice in less than two minutes at the start of the second quarter to complete his first half hat trick, Trinity answered back with goals from Conley Bohan and Bo Page to take their biggest lead of the game at 7-4 with 4:45 left before halftime.
 
After an offensive possession where Will Miller '26 hit the crossbar, Emmett Schillinger '25 turned Trinity over in transition which led to an outlet and fast break opportunity where James Bailey '26 dished to Jared Cohen '25 for a pole goal.
 
That late goal in the first half set the tone as Wesleyan regained their footing and hit Trinity with five goals in the third quarter. Jack Raba '23, G'25 dished to Lechner right in front for his fourth goal of the night and then just over a minute later, Bailey hit Miller with a no-look pass on the man-up to level the score at seven apiece.
 
With the score still tied and less than four minutes left in the third, CK Giancola '24, G'25 and Raba worked a hidden ball trick right in front of the Wesleyan bench. The two came together and Raba faked like he had the ball for a few seconds, that was until Giancola stepped into a shot from 20 feet out that beat an unsuspecting Jordan Opdahl in cage for the go-ahead goal.
 
That hidden ball goal sent was followed up less than a minute later with Giancola scoring again, followed by Lechner's fifth goal of the night to make it 10-7 Cardinals heading into the fourth.
 
Looking to close the door on the comeback win, Ben Burns '26 scored on the first possession of the fourth quarter while Giancola scored two more times to make it 13-7 with 7:56 remaining.
 
Conor Selfridge '26 made a couple saves just 13 seconds apart on a Trinity possession midway through the fourth quarter, shutting down any potential comeback bid from the visitors as the junior goalkeeper finished the contest with 10 saves to pick up the win.
 
Giancola's four-goal second half landed him a spot in the record books as he became the eighth Cardinal and just the second midfielder in team history to reach 200 career points. Giancola is the first Cardinal since Carter Hawthorne '19 to reach 200 points and just the second midfielder to hit the milestone, joining Glenn Adams '06.
 
Lechner led the offense with a career-high five goals to go along with one assist for a six-point night. He also finished with a career-best five ground balls. Bailey dished out a career-high five assists to go along with four ground balls.
 
Raba had a four-assist night, giving him 128 for his career which puts him in sole possession of second place on the all-time list at Wesleyan, trailing only Hawthorne.
 
Schillinger had a big night on the defensive end, grabbing a career-high eight ground balls to go along with three caused turnovers. Both Reef Kabalin '25 and Jor Hurton '27 finished with three caused turnovers and three ground balls while Scott Cunningham '27 had four ground balls and one caused turnover.
 
The faceoff unit finished 13-for-24 with Tyler Campbell '25 going 8-for-15 and Jack Doherty '28 having a 5-for-9 night.
 
Next up for the Cardinals is the team's final regular season home game which is slated for 1 PM against Hamilton on Citrin Field.