Willits leads Men's Lacrosse to a 18-6 win at Muskingum

NEW CONCORD — Junior Colin Willits (West Chester/Lakota West) scored a five-goal hat trick to lead the Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team to a 18-6 victory at Muskingum in an Ohio Athletic Conference contest on a chilly Friday evening.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (9-4 Overall, 4-1 OAC), Muskingum (4-9 Overall, 1-4 OAC).
• Venue: Bullock Health and Wellness Complex - New Concord, Ohio. 
• This game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was moved because of the weather. 

The Game

• Freshman Cooper Mulligan (Middletown/Bishop Fenwick) had a three-goal hat trick in the contest.
• Senior Caleb Bennett (Stokesdale, N.C./Linganore) finished the game with one goal and four assists.
• Sophomore Mitchel Luck (Linden, Mich.) had a three-goal hat trick and one assist in the victory.
• Ohio Northern's defense held Muskingum scoreless in the third period.
• The Polar Bears opened the game off strong with a 4-0 run. 
• After two Muskingum goals, Northern answered with two goals of their own to extend the lead to 6-2 to end the first period. 
• The Orange and Black ended the first period on a 5-0 run to take a 12-4 lead heading into halftime.
• Bennett opened the second half with a goal at 14:16 to make it 13-4.
• ONU would lead 16-4 heading into the fourth period.
• The fighting muskies were led by Dillon Caudill and Ethan Kmieske. 
• Freshman Peyton Lich (Palmyra, N.Y./Macedon) had 11 saves to earn the win.
• Eight different Polar Bears scored goals in the contest. 
• ONU out-shot MU 52-27 and had the ground ball advantage 37-27.

Notables

• Willits leads the team in goals this season with 31.
• Willits and Luck lead the team in points this season with 39 each.
• Bennett leads the team in assists this season with 18.
• Sophomore Ryan Frech (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) leads the team in caused turnovers this season with 21 and in ground balls with 45.
• Senior Chad Calderwood (Portland, Ore./Episcopal) won 13 of 19 in faceoffs on the day, extending his school record to 519 for his career.
• He also has the career ground balls record with 239.
• Willits is fifth all-time in ONU history with 75 career goals.
• Northern leads the all-time series with a 8-0 record.
• Bennett ranks tied for sixth all-time in ONU history with 41 career assists.
• Head coach Nat St.Laurent is in his tenth season at Ohio Northern with a 101-52 record, a winning percentage of .660.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action at home at Dial Robertson Stadium against Otterbein on Wednesday at 7 pm.