Fond du Lac, Wis. - After suffering their first conference defeat in heart-breaking fashion in an overtime loss at MSOE on Wednesday, the Illinois Tech men's lacrosse team was looking to bounce back when they traveled to Marian University on Saturday afternoon for a match with the host Sabres. The Scarlet Hawks got everything they wanted out of the trip North, as they dominated the Sabres 11-2. The Scarlet Hawks improved to 5-1 in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conferenc (NACC) play, and to 6-5 overall. The Sabres fell to 1-5 in NACC play and to 2-7 overall.

Jackson Brass scored 4 goals, had 4 assists for 8 points for the Hawks, while Yano Porter added 3 goals and 2 assists for 5 points. The Hawks outshot the Sabres 53-23.

In a relatively quiet first quarter, it was the Sabres who would strike first, with Serge Simard scoring an unassisted tally at 12:55. The Hawks would not get the equalizer until the 5:05 mark, when Porter would score the first of his three goals, this one on a feed from Brass, to tie the score at 1-1. Porter would follow-up with another goal with 16 seconds remaining in the first quarter to put the Hawks up 2-1 heading into the second quarter.

Illinois Tech would take control of the match in the second quarter, scoring five unanswered goals. Brass would score three consecutive goals in just over two minutes to give the Scarlet Hawks a 5-1 lead with 7:32 remaining in the quarter. Jonathan Vitale would extend the Hawks' lead to 6-1 when he scored on a pass from Porter at 2:40. Porter would close out the scoring in the quarter with his third of the game, coming with 1:02 remaining, to give Illinois Tech a 7-1 halftime lead. The Hawks outshot the Sabres 21-0 in the second quarter.

Despite the teams combining for 17 shots in the third quarter, only one goal was scored, coming with 35 seconds remaining off the stick of Connor Montgomery with an assist by Alexander Stokrp. The Hawks would take an 8-1 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Hawks would reassert themselves in the final quarter, outscoring the Sabres 3-1 while outshooting them 14-5. Vitale would net his second goal of the game at 11:32 on a pass from Brass. Brass would score his fourth goal of the match at 6:53 on a feed from Stokrp. Diego Sosa would close out the Hawks scoring 3:54 on an unassisted tally. Marian's Simard would score his second goal of the match at 2:08 to cap off the scoring for the Sabres.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Jackson Brass with 8 points on 4 goals and 4 assists, with 10 shots and 2 ground balls
• Yano Porter with 5 points on 3 goals and 2 assists, with 7 shots, 3 ground balls and 1 caused turnovers
• Jonathan Vitale with 2 goals on 4 shots and 2 ground balls
• Connor Montgomery with 1 goal and 1 assist, 3 ground balls and 1 caused turnover
• Alexander Stokrp with a pair of assists and 1 ground ball
• Duwayne Aikins was 6-8 on faceoffs with 4 ground balls
• Canyon Kuchel was 5-7 on faceoffs with 4 ground balls
• Owen Dewysockie with 4 ground balls and 2 caused turnovers
• Kyle Johnson allowed only 1 goal in 50 minutes while making 8 saves

Inside The Box Score

• Serge Simard led Marian with 2 goals scored on 10 shots
• Sabres goalkeeper Jackson Sweeney recorded 20 saves in the loss
• Illinois Tech held a 31-10 advantage in shots on goal
• Illinois Tech won the ground ball battle 38-24 and the faceoff battle 11-4
• Neither team was able to score with the man advantage, as the Hawks went 0-6 and the Sabres went 0-1

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks return home to Stuart Field on Wednesday night, when they host first-place and conference-undefeated (6-0) Aurora University at 7:00pm in a huge NACC matchup.