Jansen, Manley Bolster Offense In 9-6 Men's Lacrosse Victory

GENEVA, N.Y. – Sparked by two players with four points offensively alongside a 16 save performance from goaltender Tyler Bischoff (Allendale, N.J.), the Wells College men's lacrosse team recorded its second straight victory with a 9-6 win over Houghton College on Thursday at Boswell Field. The Express improve to 2-0 to begin their year while the Highlanders drop to 0-4 on the young season.

Wells has won two straight games to open their season for the second time in team history. The Express previously jumped out to a 2-0 record in the 2011 season, notching a road win against Thiel on Mar. 5, 2011 before defeating Mt. St. Mary (N.Y.) on Mar. 13. With the win this evening against Houghton, the Express avenged a 12-11 defeat at the hands of the Highlanders on Apr. 17, 2013.

Senior Alex Manley (South Buffalo, N.Y.) and sophomore Connor Jansen (Horseheads, N.Y.) paced the Wells offense with four points each, the former scoring three goals and an assist for four points (3-1=4) with the latter chipping in two goals and two assists for four points (2-2=4). Freshman Alex Milliken (Hilton, N.Y.) tallied three markers for the Express and led the team in shots taken with 12. Defensively, junior Hayden Shuster (Careywood, Id.) caused four turnovers to lead the team in that statistic.

Wells opened the scoring only 2:30 into the contest as Milliken struck for his 10th goal of the season. Houghton answered just over two minutes later with a Christian O'Ione goal to knot the score at one aside. The Express, however, scored their first man-up goal of the season with 19 seconds left in the opening stanza with Manley's fifth goal of the year, scored off of a feed from Jansen.

Milliken once again opened the scoring for both sides in the second quarter, but Sean Daigler and Paul Chapman scored back-to-back goals for the Highlanders to tie the game at 3-3 with 7:07 left in the first half. Wells, however, took charge of the game by scoring the game's next three goals across a span of 41 seconds with Jansen, Manley and Milliken striking in succession to grant the Express a lead they would not relinquish.

Despite a 6-3 lead at the half, Houghton was able to cut the score to 7-5 with goals from Daigler and Joshua Bailey in the third quarter to cut into the deficit. Jansen and Chapman traded goals in the fourth with the dagger coming from freshman Hayden Haas (Syracuse, N.Y.) with 49 seconds left, adding insurance down the stretch to build up a 9-6 lead.

Houghton was led by Daigler's four points, courtesy of two goals and two assists (2-2=4). Chapman added two goals and an assist (2-1=3) while David Steves caused a team-leading three turnovers.

Bischoff picked up his third career victory, improving to 2-0 on the season after a 16 save performance against Houghton. Joshua Haingray was saddled with his fourth loss of the year, allowing six goals on nine Wells shots in the tilt's first 30 minutes. Gabriel Browning made seven saves in the second half for the Highlanders, allowing three goals.

Wells returns to action Wednesday, Mar. 26 as they play Keuka College on the road. Stay tuned to the Wells College Athletics website for up-to-the-minute information regarding a potential venue and time change.