Drake Nickolaison

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A slow start doomed The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team on Wednesday as they lost to Capital University 12-9.

Capital scored the first four goals, pulling ahead 4-0 midway through the first quarter. Erase those first four goals, and Wooster holds a 9-8 advantage for the remainder of the game.

Joe Altieri and Drake Nickolaison scored Wooster's first two goals to pull them within two, but Capital put together three more goals and led 7-2 into the second quarter.

Wooster found some answers with three consecutive goals in about a two-minute span. Altieri had assists on the next two goals as Shaun Peirce scored and Ted Wells scored on a laser of a shot. Cullen Kuhn then found Nickolaison for Nickolaison's second goal of the night.

CJ Hughes was a thorn in the Scots' side all night but scoring the next two goals really gave Capital a cushion. Hughes ended up contributing six goals and four assists.

Peirce scored twice in the third behind assists from Altieri and Cooper Pewitt, but at the end of the third the Scots trailed 11-7. Peirce finished with four goals to lead Wooster.

The scoring cooled down in the fourth as the Scots tried to make a final rally. Kuhn scored with 3:57 remaining and Pierce scored with just 26 seconds left with Nickolaison on the assist.

Wesley Wagner made 11 saves in the game. Wooster outshot Capital 40-37 and held the ground ball advantage 28-23. Wooster won 10 face offs to Capital's 15.

Capital improved to 6-1, while Wooster dropped to 1-6. The Scots will look to get back in the win column on Saturday when they host Hiram College when they open North Coast Athletic Conference play.