MARSHALL, Mo. - With great performances throughout the lineup, William Woods University (2-7, 2-4 Heart of America Athletic Conference) earned its first road win, defeating Missouri Valley College (0-6, 0-6) 18-6 Saturday at Gregg-Mitchell Field.
"Not the 'prettiest' of wins, but we will take a road win in conference play," William Woods lacrosse coach
Seth Matlock said. "We finally woke up in the second half of the game and found our rhythm, but overall did not play as good as we could have. We need to start hitting our stride as we look into the playoff picture and set ourselves up for a run. Vinny had another stellar game with 10 goals, two assists for 12 points on the day.
Jack Brackin was able to find the net with five goals. Overall, I know we can play better, but a win is a win. Go Owls!"
After being involved in all six of the Owls' goals at (RV) Benedictine College on Wednesday,
Vinny DeMarco improved on that already outstanding performance, tallying a program-best 10 goals on a game-high 20 shots (15 on goal) while assisting two scores, scooping seven ground balls and causing one turnover.
Jack Brackin also put in a strong attacking display, registering five goals, one assist and 13 shots (10 on goal).
David Wiley also kept up his solid play for WWU, winning a game-high 11-of-15 faceoffs, picking up a game-high 10 ground balls, making a game-high three assists and scoring one goal.
Guiding the Owls in one of their best defensive performances,
Kyle Fischer caused a game-high five turnovers and added a ground ball, and goalie
Drew Stubblefield stopped 10 shots with a game-high .625 save percentage.
William Woods got its offense going early, scoring the game's first three goals in the first period: Wiley from a
Chris Hanson assist with 12:09 left,
Xavier Dockery unassisted with 10:38 remaining and Dockery turned provider on DeMarco's score with 3:50 to go.
Up 3-1 after one period, the Owls potted their first goal of the second period with a man-up as DeMarco took a Wiley pass and slotted his shot past the Vikings' netminder with 13:11 left. After MVC narrowed its deficit to 4-2, WWU increased its lead to four goals at halftime with Brackin involved in both. Brackin netted from a Wiley helper with 2:53 remaining, then assisted DeMarco's hat-trick goal with 1:21 to go.
The Owls jumped out to an 8-2 advantage not even six minutes into the second half as Brackin scored from an
Ethan NewMyer assist with 11:40 left in the third period and DeMarco placed his fourth shot into the back of the net with 9:11 remaining. The Vikings pulled one back, then The Woods responded with three goals without reply: Brackin's hat trick securing score with 4:19 left, DeMarco from Wiley's helper with 3:11 remaining and the two-time All-American notched his sixth off
Wyatt Robbins' assist with 2:24 to go.
Holding a comfortable 11-4 cushion through three periods, William Woods kept its foot on the pedal, totaling its most goals in any period with seven in the fourth. Missouri Valley found the back of the net first in the fourth, then DeMarco responded by tossing in his seventh goal with 7:54 left and Brackin his fourth with 7:16 remaining. Following MVC's final goal, which happened with a man up, WWU locked down the victory with five successive scores: DeMarco posted his final three goals, the last with 1:56 left, then Brackin finished his five-goal outing with 1:36 remaining and NewMyer concluded the contest's scoring on DeMarco's WWU single-game best 12th point with 1:01 on the clock.
On the afternoon, the Owls totaled 57 shots (40 on goal), 32 ground balls, eight turnovers and 15 faceoff wins, compared to the Vikings' 28 shots (16 on goal), 27 ground balls, 25 turnovers and 12 faceoff wins.
William Woods will spend all of next week at home, beginning its two-game week by facing Midland University (2-8, 2-4 Heart) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at North Campus Athletic Complex in Fulton.
