NEWARK, Del. - - A strong third quarter allowed sixth-ranked Pace to pull away from the Wilmington University men's lacrosse team on Saturday, spoiling the 2025 home opener with a 13-8 loss at the WU Athletics Complex.
Pace (2-1) came out of the halftime break and scored the first three goals and then rattled off two more to win the quarter, 5-1, and take a 10-4 lead into the final frame. The Wildcats (0-3) tried coming back in the fourth, but it was too little too late for the home team.
Toby Templeton and Layton Avant each scored their first goals of the 2025 season to give the Wildcats an early 2-1 lead, but Pace bounced back with the final two goals of the first quarter to take a 3-2 lead. The Wildcats outshot the Setters, 9-8, in the first quarter.
Pace tallied the first two goals of the second before Kyle Parker got on the board with his first goal of the season with 2:06 to play before the break. The Wildcats were trailing, 5-3, at halftime.
Pace came out strong in the third, scoring the first three goals to take an 8-3 lead. Toby Templeton scored his second of the day to break up the momentum, but then the Setter scored the final two goals of the frame as well, taking a 10-4 lead into the fourth quarter.
The run continued for Pace, as they scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter, taking their largest lead of the game, 12-4. Toby Templeton made it a hat trick in his home debut with a third goal and then Josh Lovely got on the board with a mark to make it 12-6. Pace scored once more before Carter Earl and Josh Lovely lit the lamp again with 4:31 to play. But the Wildcats couldn't get any closer as Pace ran out the clock the rest of the way.
Pace out shot the Wildcats, 39-28, but the Wildcats committed more turnovers, 25-19, including 16 in the second half. Connor Widmer led the Wildcats in winning the face-off battle, 13-11, with 11 wins on his own.
Templeton led the offense with three goals while Lovely added a pair. Josh Weston dished out two assists in the loss. Paul Army caused two turnovers while adding three ground balls on the defensive end. Daniel Flynn made 11 saves with two caused turnovers.
The Wildcats square off against Frostburg State in their next game, heading to Johns Hopkins University for a neutral site game. The Tuesday night game is set for a 7:00 p.m. opening face-off.
