MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (Wed., April 1, 2009) -- Wesleyan University (7-2, 3-2 NESCAC) knocked off Trinity College (6-3, 2-3), 9-3, to post its 12th win in a row over its in-state NESCAC rival. The win improved the Cardinals domination of the all-time series which stands 36-18 in Wesleyan's favor.

Wesleyan is currently ranked 14th in the latest USILA poll and was coming off a tough 12-10 loss at #5 Tufts on Saturday while Trinity, which received votes in the latest poll, had upended Williams, 6-3, in its last contest.

Wesleyan scored just 3:26 into the contest on a shoulder-high shot by senior Dan Latzman and Wesleyan led the rest of the way. The score stood 3-2 for Wesleyan following the second goal of the game by Trinity junior Harper Cullen, who went on to finish his hat trick in the fourth quarter as he scored all three Bantam goals, giving him a team-high 26 on the year.

But between the 4:06 mark of the second period and the 1:38 mark of the final stanza (a span of 32:28), the only goals scored came from Cardinals as Wesleyan rattled off six straight to take a 9-2 lead at the 7:58 mark of the fourth quarter. At that time, senior Russ Follansbee, who leads Wesleyan with 37 points this year (23 goals, 14 assists), competed his hat trick. He now has 166 career points to tie for fifth all-time at Wesleyan.

Senior Jason Ben-Eliyahu also came up with a hat trick and added two assists for a five-point game, giving him 23 points on the year. He has moved into eighth place on the all-time Wesleyan scoring list with 142 points.

In the Wesleyan net, starter senior Mike Borrero collected seven stops while yielding just two goals. Reserve junior Colin Campbell played the final seven minutes with one save and one goal allowed. Trinity senior Graham Fadden posted eight saves while going the distance in the Bantam net.

Wesleyan controlled all phases of the game with a 36-19 edge in shots, a 46-25 margin in ground balls and 10 wins out of 15 faceoffs, nine of those by junior Matt Ward. Neither team had an extra-man goal as there were only three penalties in the contest.

Wesleyan returns to action Saturday to host NESCAC foe Colby (5-3, 2-2) while Trinity will host conference leader Tufts (8-0, 5-0) the same day.

2009-04-01