ANGOLA, IND. -- The Trine University men's lacrosse team started off the 2020 season with a 25-3 win against Anderson (Ind.) University in the home opener at Fred Zollner Stadium in Angola, Ind.
Three players scored a game-high four goals in junior Tyler Corless (St. Clair Shores, Mich./De La Salle) and freshmen Cabe Maskevich (Shakopee, Mich./Shakopee) and Andrew Douglas (Liberty Twp, Ohio/Lakota East). Maskevich and Corless both added a pair of assists to finish with an overall point total of six points to lead all players.
Juniors Jared Schepp (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine), Jared Turner (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger), Matt Zanichelli (Rolling Meadows, Ill./William Fremd) and freshman Noah Markus (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) also recorded multi-goal games with two goals each. Zanichelli also added a game-tying high three assists for five total points on the night and Turner had two assists for a total of four points.
Junior Brennan Battle (Lowell, Mich./Lowell), senior Brett Husar (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North), freshmen John Konicek (Geneva, Ill./Geneva), Zach Anderson (Crestwood, Ill./Oak Forest) and Collin Stonebraker (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) rounded out the goal scorers with one marker each. Battle also assisted on a game-tying high three other scores to cap a four-point outing.
Sophomore Brian Morris (Metamora, Mich./Lapeer) tallied an assist to finish with one point to wrap-up the list of point scorers against the Ravens.
Defensively, Stonebraker had a game-high 10 ground balls and was 14-of-21 on faceoffs. Sophomore Bryce Salmon (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester Adams) and senior Keith McCowan (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove) both led the team in caused turnovers with two each which also led all players.
Trine (1-0) jumped out to sizeable advantage in the first quarter by scoring all six of the goals recorded in the period. Maskevich struck for the first goal at the 11:47 mark to tally the first Thunder goal of the season and went on to add another later in the period with 6:23 remaining that made it a 4-0 game. Zanichelli, Corless, Markus and Schepp all added goals in the opening 15 minutes that included Schepp's goal coming on a man-up opportunity and capped the scoring in the frame to give Trine a 6-0 margin after the first quarter.
Anderson (0-1) got on the scoreboard with its first goal of the season just over a minute-and-a-half into the second quarter. But Trine then rattled off seven unanswered goals that included a string of four straight in the span of 2:48 following the Raven goal. Corless and Douglas both found the back of the net twice and Maskevich, Markus and Anderson scored the remaining goals that put the Thunder out in front by a 12-goal margin at halftime, 13-1. Markus' goal also came on a man-advantage as Trine finished the game four-of-eight in "man-up" opportunities.
Coming out of the break, Trine continued to pad its lead starting with a goal by Douglas at the 10:15 mark as part of another seven-goal quarter by the Thunder. Corless and Turner scored the next three goals for Trine with two by Turner, including a man-up goal, before Anderson struck for its second goal with 7:26 left in the period to make it an 17-2 score. Douglas, Schepp and Maskevich ended the scoring in the period as the Thunder went into the fourth quarter leading, 20-2.
Trine continued its scoring streak in the fourth quarter with five straight markers by Zanichelli, Husar, Stonebraker, Battle and Konicek that extended the advantage to 25-2 with just over six-and-a-half minutes to play. Stonebraker's goal came off of the ensuing face-off following the score by Husar for a pair of goals in the span of eight seconds. The final goal of the game came of the stick of an Anderson player at the 4:53 mark, but the game was well in hand for Trine as the Thunder cruised to a season-opening, 25-3, victory.
The Thunder will play their next six contests away from Angola, starting with a matchup against Concordia University Chicago on Saturday, Feb. 22 in Chicago, Ill. The game is set for a 2 p.m. (EST) start.
