by Eric Willuweit

Greencastle, Ind. - After a low-scoring first half in weather conditions based described as sub-optimal, the Illinois Tech men's lacrosse team found their offensive footing in the second half, taking down DePauw University 9-4 Saturday afternoon in a non-conference road match. The Scarlet Hawks improved to 3-1 on the season. The Tigers fell to 2-3.

The Scarlet Hawks outshot the Tigers 39-27 overall, and outshot them in every quarter. The Hawks used a strong defensive effort and a 20-23 success rate in clears to control play in the match, negating the Tigers 16-2 advantage in faceoffs.

"Felt good to get back out there after a long layoff" said Head Coach Dan Sharbaugh. "I thought our effort on the defensive side of the ball and in the ride really set the tone for us to have a lot of opportunities offensively. It really felt like a team effort in this one and it's great to have a positve result in some far from ideal weather conditions" said Sharbaugh.

First Quarter (Illinois Tech 1 - DePauw 1)

Yano Porter gave the Scarlet Hawks the initial lead at 12:12 on an unassisted tally, with the play started by a ground ball recovery in the defensive zone by Ty Dwyer and his length of field rush.  Jack Flynn countered for the Tigers at 8:59 with a player up goal to tie the match at 1-1.

Second Quarter (Illinois Tech 3 - DePauw 1)

Illinois Tech had the only scoring in the second quarter. Dwyer was able to shed a defender, take a feed from Spencer Meace and fire a side-winder into the net at 10:42. Aidan Gans increased the lead to 3-1 at the 6:10 mark, taking a feed on the far side of the field, cutting inside, faking left then right before going back to his left and firing to provide the Scarlet Hawks with a two-goal advantage heading into halftime.

Third Quarter (Illinois Tech 7 - DePauw 3)

Reed Tangeman gave the Scarlet Hawks their third consecutive goal, taking a goal line feed from Dwyer and firing from high right of goal to extend the Hawks lead to 4-1. DePauw would answer less than a minute later when Henry White scored unassisted at 9:53 to cut the DePauw deficit in half 4-2. Diego Sosa would counter for the Scarlet Hawks 42 seconds later. After an initial point-blank shot by Sosa was saved, the ensuing ground ball was picked up by Porter, who immediately fed it back to Sosa, who converted on the second attempt for a 5-2 lead. Gans would follow at the 7:16 mark for the Hawks, taking a feed from the left side, curling high and inside and fired for his second goal of the match and a 6-2 lead. After the ensuing faceoff won by DePauw, the Scarlet Hawks forced a turnover in the Tigers defensive zone with three on one pressure. Dwyer hauled in a pass 25 yards up from goal on the near sideline, angled towards the goal, cut inside on his defender and fired past DePauw goalkeeper Anthony Reinhardt for his second goal of the match, and a 7-2 Hawks lead. Flynn would score his second goal of the match for DePauw 39 seconds later to cut the Tigers deficit to 7-3 as the game transitioned to the fourth quarter.

Fourth Quarter (Illinois Tech 9 - DePauw 4)

After a scoreless first five-plus minutes of the final quarter, White would score his second of the match for DePauw, shaving the Scarlet Hawks lead to 7-4 at the 9:39 mark. But just over a minute later, the Scarlet Hawks would respond. Porter intercepted a goalie clearing attempt, rushed inside towards goal, drawing a defender off of Jonathan Vitale. Porter passed to Vitale at the left of goal, and Vitale shot downward into the net for an 8-4 Illinois Tech lead. Vitale would score again at the 4:37 mark of the match to close out the scoring. Another errant clear by Tigers goalkeeper Reinhardt was intercepted, this time by Jackson Brass 10 yards into the DePauw half of the field. Brass headed straight down the middle towards the goal, passing from just outside the restraining line to his left to a wide-open Vitale. Vitale dove forward to receive the pass and fire the shot into the goal in the same motion for the final 9-4 margin of victory.

Scarlet Hawks Standouts

• Gans with 2 goals and two caused turnovers.
• Vitale with 2 goals and 2 ground balls.
• Dwyer with 2 goals and an assist.
• Porter with a goal and 2 assists.
• Meace with an assist and 4 caused turnovers.
• Goalie Zane Handy with 10 saves on 14 shots.

Up Next

The Scarlet Hawks finally make their 2023 season home debut, when they face off against Hendrix College on Tuesday, March 21 at 2:00 PM at Stuart Field in a non-conference matchup.