VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia - The Virginia Wesleyan men's lacrosse team defeated the Cougars of Chatham University 15-6 on Saturday afternoon at Birdsong Field in Virginia Beach, VA. The Marlins move to 4-1 while Chatham is now 2-3. 

INSIDE THE SCORE
The Marlins found the scoreboard first with a shot from Jason Thibeault that found the back of the net following a pass from Greg Gaetano a minute and a half into the action. Chatham found an equalizing goal nine minutes later (4:43) on an unassisted shot that snuck by Marlin keeper Kyle Leeming. Virginia Wesleyan switched into drive and score three goals in the remaining four and a half minutes taking a 4-1 lead into the second quarter. Dante Castillo, Mark Sprague, and Gaetano all scored a goal in the four and a half minute window. 

Chatham crawled back with one of Virginia Wesleyan as they scored two goals in the first four minutes of the second quarter putting the score at 4-3 VWU leading by one. The Marlins put some space between themselves and the Cougars after Pete Langan and Cole Maguire each scored a goal driving the score up to 6-3 with 6:35 until halftime. Chatham added one more in the second while VWU got the last word scoring a goal with 58 seconds remaining before the horn from Thibeault putting the Marlins up 7-4 at the break.

The Cougars fought back in the third quarter as they again cut the Marlin lead to one goal, 8-7 with 3:53 remaining in the third. The VWU goal came from Thibeault via a Sprague pass on a man-up powerplay situation. Virginia Wesleyan took a two-goal lead, 9-7, into the fourth quarter following another man-up powerplay as Zach Hope scored from a Thibeault pass. 

The fourth quarter was dominated by the Marlins who kept their opponents off the scoreboard entirely while putting six goals up to give VWU a 15-7 victory at the final buzzer. The six goals came from Maguire (2), Thibeault (2), and Joey Rayman (2). 

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN LEADERS
The Marlins were led by Jason Thibeault with five goals and one assist on 14 shots, eight on goal. Cole Maguire recorded a hattrick with three goals and an assist on six shots. Nathan Sheirburn and Dante Castillo split time in the faceoff circle with Sheirburn winning 7-of-13 faceoffs and Castillo winning 8-of-10. Kyle Leeming (W, 4-1) picked up the win playing all 60 minutes in net giving up just seven goals on 19 shots faced while making 12 saves. 

CHATHAM LEADERS
The Cougars were led by Michael Porreca and Nicholas Guaglione with three goals each. Shane Gaglione (L, 2-3) played all 60 minutes in the net giving up 15 goals on 29 shots faced and making 14 saves.

KEY MOMENT
The key moment of the game came in final quarter when the Marlins held off the Cougars entirely and went on a 6-0 run in the fourth to win 15-7.

UP NEXT
The Marlins are back in action on Wednesday, March 11, when they host the Warriors of Lycoming College. The first faceoff is set for 5 PM at Birdsong Field in Virginia Beach, VA.