Lacrosse Falls to Delaware Valley, 12-8

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Virginia Wesleyan College men's lacrosse team fell to Delaware Valley University, 12-8, Tuesday night in the first-ever matchup between the two schools.  

Delaware Valley got off to an early start, leading 3-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Aggie defense did a good job of bottling up the Marlins, limiting the hosts to nine shots with one coming on cage in the first.

The Marlins went on an offensive burst in the second quarter, scoring five goals over the span of 2:43 to go up 5-3. Justin Metzger scored twice in the run.

Delaware Valley did a tremendous job against the fast-paced Marlin offense outside of the run, holding VWC to just three goals over the 57:17 of action.

The Aggies battled back in the third quarter, taking a 7-6 lead on a Matt Brady score before Eddie Desiderio used a Cory Hilliard assist to tie the contest with 4:34 to play in the period.

Delaware Valley used a 5-0 run over the next 13 minutes to go up 12-7 with 4:03 to play. The Aggies outscored the Marlins 8-3 in the second half.

Hilliard found Joe Couture for a goal with 2:01 left in the game, but the Aggies regained possession and managed to run out the clock.

Chris Coyle led Delaware Valley (2-2) with four goals while Brady had three goals and two assists to go with three goals from Matthew Laurence.

Metzger, Couture, and Desiderio had two goals each while Chris McTague finished with a career-best 18 saves. Evan Merrill posted a goal to go with two caused turnovers and seven ground balls.

Delaware Valley held a 50-31 edge in ground balls, committed nine less turnovers, and forced the Marlins into 11 unsuccessful clears.

Virginia Wesleyan (1-4/0-0) will look to bounce back Saturday with the ODAC opener at Roanoke College (3-1/0-0), the ODAC preseason favorite, at 1 p.m.