Milliken, Men’s Lacrosse Set Records In 23-1 Victory Over Green Mountain

GENEVA, N.Y. – Sparked by a nine goal effort from freshman Alex Milliken (Hilton, N.Y.) in his first collegiate game, the Wells College men's lacrosse team opened their seventh season as a varsity program with a 23-1 victory over the Eagles of Green Mountain College. The Express improve to 1-0 following the non-conference tilt, securing their first-ever season opening victory in team history. The Eagles drop to 0-2 on the season.

In Saturday's game, the Express set program records for goals scored in a single game (23), largest margin of victory (22), most caused turnovers (27), most assists (13), most ground balls (53), most points (36), most face-offs won (19) and most shots taken (57). The previous record for team goals in a game was set against Lyndon St. on Apr. 9, 2013 in a 20-13 victory.

Milliken led all players in point scoring, racking up nine goals alongside three assists to post 12 points (9-3=12) in his first collegiate contest in a Wells uniform. His nine goals shatter the previous single-game record of seven, most recently set by then-freshman Connor Jansen (Horseheads, N.Y.) last season against Lyndon St. In today's tilt, Jansen ranked second on the team in point scoring, scoring five goals and racking up three assists for eight points (5-3=8).

Defensively, junior Hayden Shuster (Careywood, Id.) led the team with 15 ground balls and also caused a team-best nine caused turnovers to tie a single game record in the latter category. Milliken also chipped in eight caused turnovers in the game, placing second on the team in that statistic.

Senior Alex Manley (South Buffalo, N.Y.) set a career-high with six points in this afternoon's tilt, scoring four goals and adding two assists for the Express. Freshman Derrick Owens (Utica, N.Y.) posted two goals and an assist for three points (2-1=3) while classmates Brendan O'Connor (York, Pa.), Hayden Haas (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Cody Roberson (Clemmons, N.C.) each struck for their first collegiate goals in the game.

Wells opened the scoring only 1:04 into the game as Milliken set up Jansen for the season's first goal. Manley's first goal of the season at 10:55 of the first half proved to be the game-winning goal as the Wells defense limited the Eagles to only one goal in the game.

Despite a 13-0 lead at the half, Green Mountain took advantage of a Wells turnover to net their first goal of the season. A clearing attempt was intercepted by Johnathan Timmons and forced past Wells goaltender Tyler Bischoff (Allendale, N.J.) to grant Green Mountain the first goal of the second half. Wells, however, ended the game having scored 10 unanswered goals to conclude the day.

Charlie Petrick led all Eagles with seven shots on goal while John Haggerty posted nine ground balls and led the team with three caused turnovers.

Bischoff (1-0) picked up his first victory of the year, allowing one goal while making eight saves for the Express between the pipes. Luke Carey (0-2) made 13 saves for Green Mountain, allowing 23 goals on 36 shots on net.

The Express return to action on Thursday, Mar. 20 as they host the Highlanders of Houghton College in a 4:00 p.m. tilt on the campus of the Hobart and William Smith Colleges.