WILMINGTON, Del. (April 13, 2024) - A late second quarter surge prove to be the difference in Georgian Court's Men's Lacrosse loss at Wilmington. Billed as the top two teams in the CACC, Wilmington came out on top by three, 17-14, dropping GCU to 8-6 on the year and 5-2 in the CACC.

How it Happened
• It was a very evenly matched game as the statistics bear out. Turnovers were one of Wilmington's biggest advantages as they forced GCU to turn it over 21 times while losing the ball just 14 times themselves.
• The Lions cleared the ball 17-23 times while Wilmington successfully crossed the timeline 20-25. 
• Faceoffs were even at 17 each as were ground balls at 41 apiece.
• Wilmington took 15 more shots than Georgian Court, 60-45, but shot-on-goal percentage favored the Lions 60%-56%.
• The Lions took three penalties leading to one man-up goal for the Wildcats. The Lions were 0-2 on their man-up chances.
First Period
• The teams were trading blows in the early going. The nine-goal first period was the highest scoring of all four frames.
• Doug Mackenzie scored 90 seconds in for an early 1-0 GCU lead.
• After the Wildcats evened things up, Tallen Smith made it a 2-1 game.
• Wilmington responded by scoring three straight to go up 4-2.
• Matt Dorrian scored with 1:20 left and Joe Zerr right behind him with 44 seconds to tie the game at four. 
• It looked like that's how the first period would end, but Wilmington snuck one more goal in with seven seconds left and led 5-4 after 15 minutes.  
Second Period
• Goals from Brett Bridges and Tallen Smith gave GCU a 6-5 lead early in the second.
• Wilmington tied it with 11:09 left to play and took the lead back, 7-6, wit 8:09 left.
• It stayed that way until the final minutes. Jacob Herman scored two goals 57 seconds apart in the final two minutes and Wilmington had their largest lead, 9-6 going into the half. 
• Vincent Burkhart made a save in the closing seconds to keep the game at 9-6. 
Third Period
• Wilmington scored the first two goals in the third just 24 seconds apart and were on a 6-0 run as they went up by five, 11-6.
• GCU finally ended the run as Mackenzie scored his second and Millan Webster got the Lions closer at 11-8.
• Georgian Court was still down three, 12-9 following Dorrian's second goal. 
• Wilmington made it 13-9 with 2:07 remaining in the period, then beat the buzzer scoring with one second left for a 14-9 lead.
Fourth Period
• The Lions didn't let the last second goal kill their spirit though. They came out and scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter to get back to within two, 14-12.
• Smith scored just 67 seconds into the period. Tyler Burns then made it 14-11 and Smith again got the Lions within two still with 11:42 to play.
• A Lion penalty led to a Wildcats man-up goal just under the 10 minute mark. They went back up four, 16-12, with 6:49 left to play.
• Smith tallied another goal and Mackenzie scored with 3:31 left and suddenly it was a two-goal game again, 16-14.
• Wilmington won the important faceoff and even though they didn't score, GCU didn't get possession back until there was less than two minutes to play.
• Mackenzie came within inches of making it a one-goal game, ringing one off the post with 52 seconds left. Wilmington picked up the ground ball, but failed to clear giving the ball back to the Lions. The Wildcat defense forced their 21st turnover of the game and Wilmington went the other way putting the finishing touches on the game with a goal with 35 seconds left to play.
• Leading 17-14, Wilmington won the faceoff and ran out the final 35 seconds seconds of their win.

Lions Stat Leaders
• Tallen Smith scored five goals and picked up three ground balls.
• Doug Mackenzie scored three times.
• Matt Dorrian scored twice with an assist.
• Brett Bridges and Millan Webster each had a goal and an assist.
• Justin Iannarone was 16-32 on faceoffs with 11 ground balls.
• Joe Murphy grabbed four ground balls.
• Max Dennington caused two turnovers and scooped four grounders.
• Vincent Burkhart made 17 saves in goal.

For the Wildcats
• Miles Crouse scored five goals and two assists with four grounders.
• Jacob Herman added four goals.
• TJ Caton and Logan Stinson each scored twice.
• Carnell Lofton, Jr. won 12-23 faceoffs and picked up seven ground balls.
• Zac Wallen had five ground balls and two caused turnovers.
• Daniel Flynn stopped 13 shots on goal.

News and Notes
• The Lions have scored 10 or more goals in four straight games, matching a season-high. 
• Georgian Court allowed a goal in the final minute of all four quarters. 
• The 31 combined goals are the most ever in a game in the series. 
• Wilmington gets closer in the all-time series as GCU now leads 5-4.
• The 17 goals allowed snaps a streak of six straight games allowing 10 goals or fewer. 

Up Next
• Georgian Court completes their nonconference schedule with a night game at Molloy Wednesday, April 17 starting at 7 p.m.