Wilkes men’s lacrosse faced off against the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins on Wednesday.

The Colonels received only their second loss on the season after a three game win streak.  Wilkes was able to maintain a close game for the first half, but a late second quarter goal by Kohler Setley of the Griffins put the momentum in Gwynedd’s favor to blow the score open.

The Griffins improved on that lead with two quick scores in the second half to improve their lead to 6-3 of the Colonels.  The next several series ended in turnovers for both teams until the Colonel, John Wink, scored on a close range diving shot on goal to put some hope back into Wilkes’ side of the bench.

A big save by the freshman goalie, Carter Whittemore, resulted in yet another John Wink goal.  The momentum seemed to be back in the Colonels’ favor as they began to close the gap with the score now 6-5.

The momentum shifted back into the Griffins’ hands as they end the third with another score.  This began a series of five unanswered scores for the Griffins. The Griffins defense was relentless as they prevented the colonels from scoring over a span of 12 minutes.

While the game seemed impossible to win, the Colonels still did not quit.  Wilkes’s Conor Daly finessed a last second shot off of a spin move to end the game at a score of 11-6, Griffins.

As they look ahead to future games, in the eyes of sophomore and captain, TJ Weitzel, the Colonels will use this loss to build on and grow from.

“We just gotta bring it back and be ready for next week,” said Weitzel.

At first glance this matchup seemed like a big loss for the Colonels as the Griffins delivered them their biggest band aid of the season yet, but to their head coach, Curtis Jacques there were some small victories within this game.

“The improvement on playing this team from last year to this year is incredible.  Last year we were out-ground balled by that team by 27 ground balls.  This year we were tied at 34 ground balls.”
Coach Jacques explained that the main focus is to prepare for the postseason and this loss is a big eye-opener for his team.  There were a lot of positives for Wilkes men’s lacrosse and a lot of aspects in this game that Coach Jacques looks to have his team build off of as they look forward to the rest of their season.