NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Illinois Wesleyan University men's lacrosse team fell on the road to No. 18-ranked Christopher Newport University on Wednesday, March 14 by a final score of 24-14. Four Titans recorded four point games on Wednesday with junior Will Rossi leading the way with three goals and one assist.

With a loss the Titans fell to 4-2 on the season while Christopher Newport remained unscathed at 7-0.

Illinois Wesleyan was out-shot by the Captains 48-38 overall and 35-26 in shots on goal. The Titans converted on 11-of-16 clear attempts as opposed to a 17-of-19 performance by Christopher Newport. Teams were nearly even on the face-off with the Titans winning 20-of-41 attempts. Junior J.C. Grabarek finished his afternoon 20-of-38 on the face-off.

In addition to the four points from Rossi the Titans got two goals and two assists from each of senior's Nick Winter and James Maibuecher, and junior Bailey Marth. Also scoring for the Titans were sophomore's Alex Doorenbos (2), Peter Trunk (1), Joe Hynes (1), and Patrick Murphy (1). Trunk added two assists to his final tally while the Titans got one assist from each of sophomore Wil Laidlaw and freshman Tanner Nelson.

Grabarek led the team in ground balls with nine and sophomore Cristian Torres led the team with three caused turnovers. In goal, sophomore Benigno Houser made nine saves and allowed 20 goals.

Despite falling into an early 4-0 hole the Titans worked their way back to a tie game at 6-6 with 49 seconds left in the first quarter. A 5-0 run by the Captains starting at the end of the first saw IWU trail by as many as five goals with just over nine minutes to play in the second. Goals by Doorenbos and Rossi cut the deficit to three, but a pair of goals from the Captains put them back up five, 14-9, heading into halftime.

A strong third quarter saw Illinois Wesleyan cut Christopher Newport's lead to two, 16-14, with 3:29 remaining in the quarter, but the Captains capped the game off on an 8-0 run to secure their seventh win of the season.

The Captains were led in scoring by Mathew Crist who recorded five goals and three assists. Jack O'Connell and Tony Cruz tied for the team-high in ground balls with eight while Max Wayne led the team in caused turnovers with four. Andrew Clark was the winning goalkeeper making 10 saves and allowing eight goals.

What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan opens College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play on Tuesday, March 20 with a 7:30 p.m. road match-up against University of Dubuque. The Spartans are currently 4-3 overall and are led in scoring by Michael Julius' 18 points. Last season the Titans defeated University of Dubuque by a final score of 28-8 in Bloomington. Maibuecher scored seven goals and tallied three assists in the last meeting between the two teams.