ANGOLA, IND.-- The Trine men's lacrosse team closed out Olivet with a strong fourth quarter to earn a 10-7 victory over Olivet and claim their first win of the season Wednesday night in Fred Zollner Athletic Stadium.
The Thunder opened the fourth quarter on a five-goal run and outscored the Comets 5-2 in the final 15 minutes. The win was the first for head coach Karl Zimmerman at Trine. George Youpel (Chicago Ridge, Ill./St. Rita) scored three goals and dished out two assists for a career- high five-point night. Brandon Walters (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) picked a great time for his first two collegiate goals, with both coming in the fourth quarter. Trine outshot Olivet by a convincing 53-29 margin. Trine improves to 1-8 overall and opens MIAA play 1-0. The Comets fall to 6-5 overall, 0-1 in conference play.
Chris Ward (Oak Lawn, Ill./St. Rita) and Paul Carlquist (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) each added two goals for the Thunder. Patrick Walker (Round Lake Park, Ill./Grayslake North) dished out three assists, while Andrew Walters (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) added a goal and an assist. Matt Lamb (Akron, Ohio/Rever) made eight saves in net.
Nino Minaudo led Olivet with three goals. Cameron Bazin added a pair of goals, while Logan Krieger added a goal and two assists. Ryan McGee made 20 saves in net for the Comets.
Brandon Walters' first-career goal 18 seconds into the fourth quarter put Trine up for good at 6-5. Ward and Youpel added unassisted tallies before the Walters duo combined to put the Thunder up 9-5, with Brandon notching the goal. Youpel added another tally from Walker with 4:12 reamaining to make it 10-5. The Comets scored two goals for the final margin.
Rob Brzezinski (Livonia, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central) won 17-of-21 face-offs for the Thunder, with four of those wins directly leading to goals.
Trine returns to action Saturday, Apr. 5 when they travel to Alma. Face-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.