BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Despite trailing at halftime by a score of 7-6, the Illinois Wesleyan men's lacrosse team scored 10 goals in the second half to earn a 16-13 victory over Whittier College on Friday, April 14. Senior Michael Julius scored a game-high six goals and tied for the team-high in assists with three.

With a win the Titans improved to 10-3 on the season, while Whittier fell to 7-5 overall.

IWU held a significant 5-2 advantage over the Poets in the first period, led by two goals from Julius. The second period was all Whittier however as the Poets scored five unanswered goals to take a 7-5 lead. Following a lengthy delay for lightning, junior Nick Winter scored a man-up goal with 1:24 to play in the first half.

Whittier reclaimed their two goal lead scoring the first goal of the second half at the 12:31 mark. With the weather starting to pick up once again the Titans aimed to knot the game up. Senior Tim Smith and Julius did just that within 30 seconds of one another to tie the game up at 8-all. Following the second extended delay of the night, IWU claimed the first lead of the second half following a goal from freshman Alex Doorenbos.

Whittier didn't stay down for long however, bringing the game back within one goal with 2:47 remaining in regulation. A pair of goals from sophomore Will Rossi and senior Jacob Perry iced the game for IWU and preserved a 16-13 victory. Perry scored three goals on Friday while Rossi scored twice.

Senior Evan Mok-Lamme tied for the team lead in assists with three and was closely followed by Winter and sophomore J.C. Grabarek who each tallied two. Grabarek led the team in ground balls with 14 and one 20-of-29 face-off attempts.

Senior Steven Laduzinsky made eight saves on 27 shots faced and picked up two ground balls.

Ashton Pieris led the Poets with seven points on five goals and two assists.

What's Next?
IWU is back in action tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. for their final home conference match of the season against Elmhurst College. The Bluejays currently own a 5-7 record heading into action against the Titans.