Freshman goalie Zach Talyor makes a save during practice.
SAM CARAVANA / THE DEPAUW
In their last two games before Saturday’s matchup with Hiram College, DePauw University men's lacrosse scored nine goals while losing both games.
That lack of offensive output quickly disappeared against the Hiram College Terriers, as DePauw scored a record-breaking 28 goals and earned a 26 point victory on the road.
The win moves the Tigers to 6-7 overall and a 2-4 record in conference play while the Terriers drop to 3-8 and 1-5 in North Coast Athletic Conference portion of their schedule.
An outburst against Hiram was nothing new to the Tigers, however. When the two teams got together last season, DePauw picked up its first ever NCAC victory, pummeling the Terriers by a final score of 19-5.
This season’s meeting came at just the right time for the Tigers after a pair of difficult losses at the hands of conference rivals, The College of Wooster and Wittenberg University. Taking on the 3-8 Terriers allowed the Tigers to take out some frustration, so the thought of a letdown was the last thing on the minds of the players.
“We were pretty confident,” sophomore Benton Givens said. “We've played them and beat them before and didn't expect any surprises.”
That confidence showed early on, as the Tigers jumped out to a lead right out of the gates. First-years Kyle Roberts and Andrew Wright along with sophomore Nick Woerner all scored goals in the span of a minute early on in the first quarter.
After the Terriers got on the board at the 8:46 mark, DePauw quickly replied and rebuilt their lead. The Tigers scored the final four goals of the first quarter, bolstered by the first career goal from sophomore Dan Kantor.
Already up by six goals after 15 minutes of play, the Tigers erased any doubt of a Hiram comeback with their play in the second quarter.
The Tigers struck 11 times in the 15 minute quarter to put the game out of reach with tallies from eight different players. The period saw the Tigers get a pair of goals from both sophomore Eric Speer and Roberts in addition to individual goals from Woerner, Givens, Wright, sophomores Grant Skipper and Sam Alkema and first-years Ben Sherman and Jack Roberts.
Already up big and having scored twice in the first half, Wright decided it was time to take things over when the Terriers and Tigers reconvened for the second half.
“My teammates knew their role on the team which was to feed the beast,” Wright said.
And feed him they did. Wright scored four of DePauw’s five goals in the third quarter and added one more at the 12:34 mark of the fourth quarter rounded out his scoring day at seven, a total that broke the DePauw single-game record.
Wright wasn’t the only underclassman to step up and perform on Saturday, however. In addition to Wright’s seven goals, DePauw got an additional nine from other first year players, a fact that isn’t lost on some of the team’s sophomore leadership.
“We've had numerous freshman step up to the plate this year and really be driving factors in the offense,” Alkema said. “They all bring something different to the team and are dangerous with the ball.”
The Tigers will likely need the help from some of those first-years as they wrap up their season with two final games this week against conference rivals Ohio Wesleyan University and Oberlin College.
“Ohio Wesleyan will be a tough game but we're hoping the energy from this past weekend will carry over for these last two games,” Alkema said.
The Tigers will host the Battling Bishops in their home finale on Wednesday with the action set to get underway at 5 p.m.