Hartford, Conn. – Junior Matthew Hauck (Ridgewood, N.J.) scored a game-high four goals and added an assist to lead the Trinity College men's lacrosse team past in-state rival Western Connecticut State on Wednesday night in non-conference action under the lights at Sheppard Field. The Bantams bounced back from a season-opening defeat to earn their first victory of the spring to improve to 1-1, while the Colonials dropped their second straight tilt to move to 0-2.

Trinity was dominant on face-offs en route to the victory, winning 16-of-25 to control the tempo and momentum throughout the contest. First-year face-off specialist JP Masaryk (New Canaan, Conn.) won 15 face-offs and grabbed a game-high 12 groundballs for the Bantams.

Hauck led the offensive charge for the hosts recording a season-high five points. Ten different Bantams found the back of the net in the game as junior Ryan DeSimone (Saint James, N.Y.), junior Michael McQuiston (Greenwich, Conn.) and first-year John Caraviello (Wellesley, Mass.) each scored two markers. McQuiston and DeSimone did a good job setting up plays for Trinity as each registered two assists apiece.

Junior attackman Nate Wilson paced Western Connecticut with two goals, while classmate John Foristall registered a goal and an assist. Sophomore Patrick Mulligan, senior Anthony Nejame and senior Nick Foley all potted one tally each for the Colonials, while sophomore Logan Yelle had a pair of helpers.

Trinity came out of the gates charging, scoring the first four goals of the game over the first 14:30 of play. With less than 30 seconds remaining in the opening quarter, the visitors got on the board and cut the Bantams lead to 4-1 courtesy of goal from Foley.

In the second quarter, both teams scored two markers as Trinity went into the break holding a 6-3 edge. In the stanza, senior Jack Castelli (Millstone, N.J.) and Caraviello scored for the hosts.

Trinity opened the second half with four straight goals capped by an unassisted marker from Hauck to stretch their lead to seven at 10-3. The visitors ended the third quarter with back-to-back goals to cut the lead to five heading into the final period. Wilson scored a man-up tally and Nejame fired a shot that beat Bantam netminder Makar Zaverucha (Duxbury, Mass.) to close the scoring in the frame.

The hosts stole the momentum back to begin the fourth quarter as Masaryk won the opening face-off and sophomore Gus Ackley (Columbus, Ohio) scored his first goal of the season just 17 seconds in. Following Ackley's marker, Hauck netted back-to-back goals to stretch the Trinity lead to eight at 13-5. Over the final six minutes of action, both teams emptied their benches as four more goals were scored in the contest.

In net, Zaverucha made nine saves for Trinity to earn his first win of the year, while senior Riley Cahill (South Glastonbury, Conn.) played the final 4:34 for the Bantams. On the opposite end, senior Kevin Seary stopped 16 shots in a losing effort and sophomore Patrick Tynan turned aside one shot in relief.

The Bantams went 19-of-21 on clears, while the Colonials were successful on 19-of-28 attempts. Trinity held a 44-23 advantage in groundballs and outshot the visitors, 53-22.

Trinity returns to action this weekend, Mar. 7, with a road conference game versus Williams.