Men's Lacrosse Sprints Past Houghton, 21-9

AURORA, N.Y. – Senior Connor Jansen (Horseheads, N.Y.) set a career-high mark and tied a program record with 12 points of offense on Saturday, helping the Wells College men's lacrosse team to a 21-9 victory over visiting Houghton College. Wells moves to 1-0 on the young season while the Highlanders dip to 0-3 overall following the non-league tilt. 

Jansen potted five goals and added seven assists, tying his own team record in the latter category. Having scored 82 goals alongside 48 assists during a four-year career, he now is only one point short of tying Daniel Munsell '13 for the all-time program record in career point scoring. Saturday's efforts have moved him past Kylan Hallett '11 for second place all-time with 82 career goals scored.

Junior Alex Milliken (Hilton, N.Y.) tied Jansen with five goals to his credit, adding four assists and collecting four ground balls. He exited play with sole possession of third place all-time in career point scoring (76-37=113), passing Hallett, while needing only four goals to tie Hallett for third place all-time in career goal scoring with 80. 

Junior Cody Roberson (Lewisville, N.C.) finished the day with three goals and two assists for five points (3-2=5) while sophomore Tanner Mingen (Houston, Texas) netted three goals of his own while adding an assist. Sophomore Aaron Heisey (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) struck for two goals while sophomore Brian Buttner (Highland Mills, N.Y.), junior Hayden Haas (Syracuse, N.Y.) and junior Nicholas Lewis-Antwi (Bronx, N.Y.) each tallied markers. 

With the first-ever victory on Wells' newly-constructed artificial turf field in the books, Head Coach Andrew Daly has earned his first career win. Daly joined the Express prior to the season after serving as an assistant men's lacrosse coach at SUNY Oneonta. 

Heisey was set up by Jansen for the game's first goal only 25 seconds into play, but Houghton countered with two-straight goals to put the visitors up early. Heisey and Jansen combined once again for a Wells score with 10:29 left in the first quarter, but Houghton's Paul Chapman established a 3-2 lead for Houghton with 8:59 left in the opening stanza. 

Milliken would score the game's next two goals before Austin Andryshak's unassisted goal for Houghton with 3:06 left in the first would tie the score at four.

Wells would go on to score the game's next four goals, taking an 8-4 lead following an unassisted goal from Haas with 11:22 left in the opening half. The Express would not trail again in the game, despite an 11-6 halftime lead that shrunk to 11-8 after two quick strikes by Houghton out of the break. 

Following the brief Houghton comeback attempt, Jansen potted two of the game's next three goals to recreate a 14-8 lead for the Express. Houghton would score its ninth goal with 7:28 remaining in the third quarter, but the Wells defense did not allow a goal for the remainder of regulation time. In total, Wells scored the game's final seven goals to build a 21-9 lead with 52 seconds remaining following an unassisted Roberson strike. 

Sophomore Zachary Simone (Johnstown, N.Y.) earned his first collegiate victory between the pipes for Wells, making nine saves on 18 total shots faced. Houghton's Chris Bucciarelli allowed 19 goals on 32 shots faced, drawing the loss – Andrew Bub relieved Bucciarelli on two separate occasions, allowing goals on both shots faced.

Wells outshot the Highlanders by a 53-to-33 margin while also winning the ground ball battle (47-to-39). Houghton would win 20 of the game's 34 total face-offs, but ultimately the squad would commit 26 turnovers while Wells registered only 20 miscues. Senior Michael Flaherty (Rochester, N.Y.) would force Houghton into four turnovers, the team leader in turnovers caused. 

The Express will travel to Bethlehem, Pa. for a non-conference tilt with Moravian at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Mar. 16.