HIRAM, Ohio - March 26, 2022 – Hiram College men's lacrosse fell to The College of Wooster Fighting Scots in its conference opener, 17-4, on Saturday at Charles A. Henry Field at Malmisur Stadium.
 
After the Fighting Scots won the opening face-off, Bricen Jones and the Terriers kept Wooster's offense off the scoreboard for almost five minutes until Charlie Ballou broke through and scored off an assist from Vinny DiLeo to give the Fighting Scots a 1-0 lead.
 
The Terriers though, quickly bounced back, clearing the ball of a Fighting Scots' shot to get things going in the offensive zone. And after Brett Johnson's shot was saved, William Luketich found the back of the net, tying the score at 1-1 with 8:53 left in the first.
 
Wooster though, quickly answered off the face-off on Jimmy Paranzino's goal, assisted again by DiLeo, to make it 2-1 in favor of the Fighting Scots with 8:03 left in the quarter.
 
The Fighting Scots would add one more in the period on DiLeo's first goal of the day with 5:41 remaining in the first period, to take a 3-1 lead after a quarter of play.
 
Hiram's defense again kept the Fighting Scots from extending their lead for the first five minutes of the second quarter, but after a Terrier turnover, Ballou notched his second goal with 9:16 until halftime to extend Wooster's lead to 4-1.
 
And just over two minutes later, DiLeo notched another, making it 5-1 in favor of the Fighting Scots with 7:06 left in the second period.
 
The Fighting Scots would add three more in the period, while Paul Chandler and the Wooster defense kept Hiram off the scoreboard to take an 8-1 lead at the half.
 
After another scoreless stretch to start the third, Henry McMahon got the Fighting Scots back on the scoreboard, finding the back of the net off an assist from DiLeo to make it 9-1 Wooster.
 
The Fighting Scots added two more before Hiram answered, taking advantage of a Fighting Scots' turnover to notch their second goal of the day. Following the turnover and a clear, Brett Johnson tallied his seventh goal off the yar off an assist from Noah Pilgram to make it 11-2 with 1:58 left in the third.
 
Neither team was able to get on the scoreboard the rest of the way in the third, and the Fighting Scots took an 11-2 lead into the fourth.
 
Ballou got the scoring started quickly for the Fighting Scots in the final period, making it 12-2 just over a minute into the fourth.
 
Hiram though, responded quickly, as Ambrose Colliluori scored off another Pilgram assist to make it 12-3 with 13:20 to play.
 
However, the Fighting Scots came right back to make it 13-3 on Max Fletcher's goal and scored four unanswered over the next 10 minutes to take a 16-3 lead with 3:18 to play.
 
Another Wooster score made it 17-3 with just under two minutes remaining, before Hiram again got on the scoreboard, beating the buzzer on Colliluori's man-up goal to make it a 17-4 final.
 
Colliluori led the Terriers with a pair of goals, while Pilgram tallied two assists. Offensively, Ethan Mayer led the Terriers with five shots, while defensively, Gray Perry snatched a team-high eight ground balls and four caused turnovers.
 
In the face-off circle, Markus Johnson won eight face-offs, while William Luketich won one. In goal, Bricen Jones recorded 20 saves but took the loss for the Terriers.
 
Hiram drops to 4-2 (0-1 NCAC) with the loss, while the Fighting Scots move to 3-4 (1-0 NCAC) with the win.
 
The Terriers next host the Oberlin College Yeomen on Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m. at Charles A. Henry Field at Malmisur Stadium.