NEWARK, Del. - - Logan Stinson scooped up a rebound and scored 2:49 into overtime to give the Wilmington University men's lacrosse team its first win of the season, 12-11, over Lake Erie on Friday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
The Wildcats (1-4) needed to survive a late fourth quarter comeback by the Storm (1-6) to force overtime, and then even needed to stop the Storm on two overtime possessions in overtime to have the final say.
Lake Erie jumped on the Wildcats first with two goals to start the game. But then Giovanni Marino, Josh Lovely, and TJ Caton all scored successive goals to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead. The Storm scored the final goal of the quarter to finish the first tied, 3-3.
Logan Stinson scored his second goal of the second quarter to give the Wildcats a 5-4 lead and then Giovanni Marino added another to make it 6-4. The Storm again scored the final goal of the quarter as the Wildcats went into the half leading, 6-5.
It looked as though the Wildcats secured some breathing room in the third, scoring the first two goals, getting tallies from Marino and Stinson once again to lead 8-5. But the Storm answered back with two late goals, regaining momentum to send the game into the fourth quarter, 8-7.
Lake Erie tied the game, 9-9 with back-to-back goals with the second coming with 6:56 to play in regulation. Logan Stinson scored from TJ Caton with 5:17 to play and then Giovanni Marino buried a shot with 2:02 to play to give the Wildcats an 11-9 lead.
But the Wildcats couldn't finish off the Storm, as their face-off kept them in the game. The visitors scored with 1:34 to play, and then tied the game with 1:06 to play. They even won the ensuing face-off to give them a chance in regulation, but a turnover ended the fourth quarter and sent the game into overtime.
Lake Erie won the overtime face-off as well, but their first shot was wide before a turnover gave the Wildcats their first chance. Giovanni Marino's first shot was blocked and then Jacob Herman hit the post. Lake Erie got the ball back but stepped in the crease to give the ball back to the Wildcats.
TJ Caton went down the left alley, but his shot was saved. The rebound bounced out in front and Logan Stinson scooped up the ground ball and buried the second attempt to start the celebration.
Logan Stinson finished with five goals and an assist while Giovanni Marino scored four times. Jacob Herman dished out four assists with his first assist of the day being his 100th career point. He is now the third player on the roster and in program history with 100 career points, joining Logan Stinson (145) and Giovanni Marino (113). Jack Cruz made 18 saves in the win.