Hot Start Fuels Wooster to 14-8 Win Over Brockport

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team dropped in four goals in the opening six minutes and change, then pounced on State University of New York Brockport's misconducts to the tune of four fourth-period player-up goals in Saturday's 14-8 win at John P. Papp Stadium.

Wooster, 4-0 for the first time since 2014, immediately peppered Brockport (0-3) goalkeeper Cameron Kuzniar at the game's onset. While Wooster did not come away with a goal on the opening blitz, the Fighting Scots were right back on the attack, thanks to junior Casey Steffen's caused turnover in transition at the 13:14 mark. Sophomore Will Fink broke through for the game's first goal just over a minute later.

Kuzniar already had four saves by the first period's 10:06 mark, but the final one in that stretch was not stopped cleanly. That led to a scoop-and-score for Wooster first-year Lane Kellogg, who netted goal seven of the year. Kellogg was not done, scoring again less than 30 second later, while sophomore Colton Beaudoin finished off the early frenzy at the 8:55 mark.

Wooster's lead grew to five before Brockport scored, then consecutive goals by junior Vinny DiLeo had the Scots out to a 7-1 start. Brockport was within 7-5 on Carson Colucci's goal that came with 10:08 left before halftime, but Wooster scored the next two. Both of those goals were set up by sophomore Rory Zahren, who now has five assists on the year. He found Kellogg and DiLeo for their ninth and seventh goals of the year, respectively.

A non-releasable two-minute unnecessary roughness penalty primed the Scots for a big fourth period. Junior Ben Byars capitalized with two goals while the Golden Eagles were riding out the penalty time. A slash in between Byars' goals resulted in a three-on-one Wooster advantage on a faceoff, which was won by junior Jimmy Fisher. Senior Tucker Joseph scooped up the groundball, and eventually, Byars upped the lead to 12-7.

Not long after, Brockport was booked for a three-minute non-releasable penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. That put the game out of reach with Byars finding Fink to up the score to 13-7. Junior Charlie Ballou tacked on an insurance goal, which was another player-up score in the final 4:20.

Steffen's aggressiveness kept Brockport from settling in at several key points on offense. The junior defender finished with a game-high four caused turnovers and he vacuumed up three groundballs. Byars and DiLeo led the offense with three goals and an assist apiece, while Kellogg had a goals hat trick on the afternoon. Zahren dished out a team-high three assists.

Wooster did a good job covering up missed shots, with that aspect helping Kellogg to a co-team-leading five groundballs. Fisher joined him at five after winning 7-of-11 faceoffs. Junior Paul Chandler stopped seven Brockport shots on the day.

Jackson Worden was the facilitator of Brockport's offense, getting assists on five of the Golden Eagles' eight goals. Bobby Alexander won 13 faceoffs and snatched up seven groundballs, while Kuzniar finished with 13 saves.

Wooster enjoyed a 41-25 shot advantage and had several near-misses with four shots hitting off the post or crossbar. The Scots had 41 groundballs to the Golden Eagles' 30 and Wooster was 16-of-20 on clears to Brockport's 10-of-17.

Next, Wooster is at Albion College (3-0) for a 6 p.m. contest on Wednesday, March 8.