Men’s Lacrosse Mangles Monmouth

MONMOUTH, Ill. – The CUW men's lacrosse team opened their 2023 season with a monumental 24-5 victory over the Monmouth Fighting Scots.

The Falcons came out hot with the first five goals of the matchup including one man-up goal. All of the goals in the first quarter were unassisted. Sophomore Max Esposito (Gaithersburg, Md.) netted the first goal with sophomore Gio Nowotarski (Reading, Pa.) following just a minute later. Freshman Preston Meier (Owatonna, Minn.) slotted the third Falcon goal of the first quarter just over one minute after Nowotarski. 

Nowatarski netted the fifth Falcon goal just over two minutes after freshman Connor Quill (Schaumburg, Ill.) recorded his first career goal on a man-up opportunity with 7:29 left in the first quarter.

The Fighting Scots scored the final goal of the quarter to head into the second with a 1-5 deficit.

Nowotarski found Esposito to get the Falcons rolling for Esposito's second goal of the game. While down a man, senior Jack Gromosky (Danville, Ind.) found junior Caleb Ruger (Grafton, Wis.) for Ruger's first goal of the matchup. The Falcons jumped out to the 7-1 lead.

The Fighting Scots netted two goals to cut into the deficit.

Esposito netted his third goal for the hat trick with 7:42 left in the second quarter.

Monmouth scored again to cut the Falcon lead to four at 8-4.

Freshman Jason Michalski Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) recorded points on the last three Falcon goals of the first half with assists on the first two with goals from Esposito and Ruger and the third goal with an assist from Ruger. The Falcons went into halftime with an 11-4 lead.

The Blue and White went on a tear to start the third quarter with eight straight goals the first of which was netted by Michalski with an assist from Esposito. Esposito followed that up with another assist to Ruger for the 13th Falcon goal. Just 21 seconds later, Ruger assisted on a goal from sophomore Cooper Fellows (De Pere, Wis.) for his first goal of the 2023 season. Sophomore Pat Ryan (Western Springs, Ill.) netted the 15th Falcon goal. Gromosky netted his second goal of the matchup with just over nine minutes remaining in the third quarter. Meier brought in a pass from Esposito and found the back of the net to push the Falcons out to a 17-4 lead. On a man-up opportunity, sophomore Hans Milchling (Cockeysville, Md.) netted his first goal of the game with an assist from Michalski. Esposito found Ruger for the Final Falcon goal of the third quarter.

The Fighting Scots finished on a high note with the last goal of the third quarter.

The Blue and White claimed the fourth quarter with five goals in the final frame. Freshman Lawrence Kettle (Eagle, Wis.) got the scoring started with his first collegiate goal to give the Falcons the 20-5 lead. Gio Nowatarski recorded his last goal with 10:41 left in the game. Sophomore Hunter Swazey (Escondido, Calif.) recorded the fourth Falcon hat trick with the final three goals of the matchup. His first was assisted by freshman Alex Busateri (Oak Creek, Wis.). 

The next two were just 20 seconds apart and both were unassisted. The final goal was on a man-up opportunity.

Senior Noah Brandt (Owatonna, Minn.) and freshman Frank Trewyn (Mukwonago, Wis.) slip the majority of the faceoff opportunities with 14 each. Brandt won seven and Trewyn won four.

Senior Evan Leden (Waukegan, Ill.) recorded nine saves in his second career start.

The 24 goals in a game ties the Falcons at fourth in the program's existence with the latest coming at Beloit in 2016.

The Blue and White with compete with Calvin in their next matchup next Saturday.