PAINESVILLE, Ohio - With the rain coming down in buckets across northeast Ohio, the Lake Erie men's lacrosse team took the field for an early season non-conference matchup against the Wilmington University Wildcats. The rain-soaked conditions would be a big factor in this contest, and the Storm would come up short by a score of 15-10. 

In the first quarter of the game, Lake Erie would take initial control with a Nick Askin goal in the first 2 minutes of the game. The Wildcats would respond with 2 of their own, but the Storm evened the score with a Tommy Bichsel goal as he put one past the Wildcat goal off of a Dawson Kindall assist. Wilmington would add one more, and the game would sit at 3-2 going into the 2nd period.

In the second quarter, Wilmington would push their advantage with two early goals. The Storm would surge back with goals from Nick Askin and Blain Wallace within seconds of each other. Dawson Kindall would assist on both goals. However, 2 Wildcat goals would give them control of the game by a score of 7-4 going into the halftime break. 

Coming out of the intermission, the Storm had a tough time handling the Wilmington offensive attack in the slippery field conditions. After 3 Wildcat goals early in the quarter, the Storm would start their comeback bid with a Tommy Bichsel goal assisted by Jackman Schooley and a Dawson Kindall goal assisted by Blain Wallace. A late Wildcat goal would put the Storm down 11-6 going into the final period. 

In the fourth, the Storm had a tough task in front of them. They took initial control with an early Dawson Kindall goal, but Wilmington would add two more shortly thereafter. From there, both teams would trade scores down the stretch. Tommy Bichsel and Nick Askin would add the first two Storm goals, but both were followed up with Wilmington scores on the other end. The final score of the contest would again come from Dawson Kindall off of a Connor Dent assist, but the final push would not be enough for the Storm to overcome the Wildcats. Wilmington would come away with a 15-10 win. 

On the bright side for the Storm, the Storm would get hat trick performances from Dawson Kindall, Nick Askin, and Tommy Bichsel. Tommy English and Collen Farrell had strong days defensively with 2 caused turnovers each. In goal, Lincoln Potter would log 15 saves in the loss. 

The Storm will look to get back on track as they open G-MAC conference play on Tuesday, March 22nd with a 7 pm road contest against the Mercyhurst Lakers.