GREENCASTLE, Ind. – The Illinois Wesleyan University men's lacrosse team cruised to a 24-9 win over DePauw University on Thursday, March 22. Senior Nick Winter and junior Bailey Marth each scored six goals for the Titans while senior James Maibuecher led the team in points following a three goal, six assist performance.
 
With a win the Titans improved to 6-2 on the season and have won two straight. DePauw falls to falls to 3-6 and are losers of four games in a row.

Illinois Wesleyan out-shot DePauw by a wide 75-40 margin, their sixth time out-shooting their opponents of the season. IWU won 24-of-37 face-off attempts and were aided by eight face-off violations on the Tigers. Junior J.C. Grabarek finished 13-of-19 on the face-off with freshman Max Bousky finishing 11-of-17. Grabarek recorded a team-high seven ground balls. Teams drew nearly even on clearance attempts with Illinois Wesleyan finishing 23-of-26 and DePauw finishing 19-of-23.

Following Marth and Winter's lead was sophomore Alex Doorenbos who tallied five goals. Sophomore Peter Trunk added two and each of Grabarek and junior Connor May finished with one. Junior Will Rossi led the team in assists with four. Also assisting on goals for IWU were junior Tom Lyons, sophomore Cristian Torres, sophomore Evan Anderson, sophomore Patrick Murphy, Doorenbos and Grabarek. Sophomore Morgan Riley was credited with the Titans lone caused turnover of the game.

Sophomore Benigno Houser earned the win in goal making nine saves and allowing seven goals on 16 total shots faced. Freshman Will Harris made one save and allowed two goals.

DePauw kept things tight in the early stages of the contest, knotting the game up at 2-all at the 3:16 mark of the first quarter. Three straight goals for IWU to close the first quarter saw them get out to a 5-2 lead heading into the second. After DePauw scored the opening goal of the second quarter Illinois Wesleyan broke off a a 7-0 run that included a man-down goal to take a massive 12-3 lead over the Tigers, who would score once more before halftime.

Teams traded goals to start the third quarter before IWU went on an 8-1 run that saw their lead swell to 15 goals. With the Titans up 22-7, DePauw scored two unanswered goals, but it wasn't enough to overcome Illinois Wesleyan's insurmountable advantage.

DePauw was led in scoring by Nate Greenberg and Will Roberts who each finished with two goals and one assist. Joe Garvey recorded a game-high eight ground balls and was 13-of-32 in the face-off. Charlie Robson was the losing goalkeeper making 16 saves and allowing 21 goals.
 
What's Next?
In a rematch of last season's NCAA first round game, Illinois Wesleyan invites the Spartans of Aurora University to Tucci Stadium on Monday, April 2 for a 7:30 contest. Aurora currently holds a record of 5-1, but will play three games prior to their trip to Bloomington.