PERRY, Ohio – The Lake Erie men's lacrosse team used an explosive second quarter to pull away from visiting nonconference foe Walsh University on Friday (April 9) night at Perry High School's Alumni Stadium.

The Storm, which led 3-2 after the first quarter, out-scored the Cavaliers, 10-1, in the second stanza on its way to a 20-4 win.

The 10 goals in the quarter – four of which came on extra-man opportunities – are just one shy of the Storm's previous-high for a game.

“We decided in the break after the first quarter that we needed to be more aggressive attacking the net,” said Lake Erie head coach Greg Stocks.

The Storm (3-4, 1-3 ECC) attempted 35 shots in the first half alone and won that battle, 52-12, for the game.

Lake Erie took a quick 2-0 lead in the first 2:12 of the game, getting goals from Josh Becker (Salamanca, N.Y./Salamanca) and Joeyjohn French (Tully, N.Y./Tully).

Walsh tied the game in the next 90 seconds before both teams settled in. Andrew Donatelli (Galena, Ohio/Olentangy) re-gained the lead for the Storm off an assist from Becker.

The Cavaliers (2-1) actually opened up the scoring in the one-sided second quarter with a goal just 14 seconds after the opening faceoff.

From there it was all Storm, which capitalized on 4-of-5 powerplay chances in the quarter. Becker scored twice in the quarter while Kyle Larsen (Massillon, Ohio/Jackson) scored three goals in a row at one point – two of which were assisted by French.

The Storm also scored three times in the final minute of the half as the Cavaliers struggled clearing the ball out of its defensive zone. Walsh was successful on just eight of its 19 clear attempts in the game.

“It was huge for us to put up that big number in the second quarter,” Stocks said. “We were able to put the game away at that point and go into halftime with a new game plan for the second half.”

With a commanding 13-3 lead, the Storm used the rest of the game to work some kinks out of its offensive and defensive games. The Cavaliers had just four shots in the second half and the Storm took only three shots in the fourth quarter as it ran out the clock.

“It was good for us to work on some things that helped us win tonight and that will help us as we grow up and move into the later part of the season,” Stocks said.

Lake Erie leading scorer Keegan Bal (Coquitlam, B.C./Centennial Secondary) finished with seven points on the night with four goals and three assists. Becker also had seven points with a Storm season-high five goals and two assists.

French matched Bal with three assists. Larsen and Donatelli had three goals apiece while Matthew Curcio (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Twp.) and Colin Duncan (Marietta, N.Y./Manlius Pebble Hill/Siena) each had two goals.

Alex Wisner (Sylvania, Ohio/Sylvania Northview) picked up the win, but needed to make only one save in his 30 minutes of work before he gave way to Ian Wolfe (Bridgeville, Pa./Chariters Valley) and Dylan White (Brockport, N.Y./Brockport) in the second half.

The Storm has just one day off before returning to the field to finish its four-game homestand on Sunday against Pfeiffer University at Perry High School's Alumni Stadium at 12 p.m. The women's lacrosse game against Shepherd will follow at 3 p.m.

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