(PAINESVILLE, Ohio) - It was a beautiful evening in Northeast Ohio as the Lake Erie men's lacrosse team cruised past Wheeling 21-3 in a Great Midwest Athletic Conference battle. With the victory, the Storm ends a two-game losing streak and improves to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in league play. The Cardinals dropped to 1-7 and 0-3 in conference action. 

Wheeling jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after scoring with less than a minute elapsed in the game. The early goal by the Cardinals ignited a fire in the Lake Erie offense that was lead by senior attackman Blain Wallace. Wallace scored the first two goals of his eight total in the first period. 

The Windsor, Ontario native continued to find the back of the net at the start of the second quarter. Wallace first scored on a pass from Tommy Bichsel at the 14:51 mark and then followed up a few seconds later and secured the hat trick with his third goal and pushed the Lake Erie lead to 4-1. The Storm offense continued to erupt and closed out the first half on an 11-1 scoring run. Bichsel and JP Napier each added a goal, Connor Dent ripped in two, while Wallace tallied seven points at the halftime break. 

The Storm extended the scoring run to 20-1 before Wheeling could end their drought with back-to-back goals with under four minutes left in the game. Bichsel would score the last goal of Lake Erie and put the exclamation point on the win before the final horn. 

Alex Creech, Michael Bayda, Cole Byrne, and Brendan Luthart also contributed a goal apiece, while Neil Gardner led all players with three assists. 

Defensively, Mike Flury dominated with 21 face-off victories. Lincoln Potter recorded four saves and allowed one goal in one half. Mitch Kiebala split time with Potter at goalie and finished with five saves on seven shot attempts. 

"It was great to see our guys come out today and get a win like this," said head coach Sam Ashton. "We started a bit slow but really turned it on in the 2nd and 3rd quarter in all facets of the game. Top to bottom our guys played unselfish team lacrosse and that's what I'm proud of tonight." 

 With four games remaining, Lake Erie will now prepare for a road contest against Alderson Broaddus on Tuesday, April 13 at 4:00 pm.