By Sports Information Student Assistant Zach Bigger

ANGOLA, Ind. - The Trine University men's lacrosse team (7-5, 3-0 MIAA) took care of business, allowing just one goal late in the fourth quarter as they built a 6-0 first quarter lead and never looked back, defeating  conference rival Calvin 18-1 (1-10, 0-3 MIAA). The Thunder had three different players with hat tricks, led by sophomore Patrick Walker's (Round Lake Park, Ill./Grayslake North) seven point (4 goals, 3 assist) performance. Calvin finished with just seven shots and was just 7-for-30 (23%) on clearing attempts for the game.

Trine could do no wrong to open the game, as they owned the ball in the first. Calvin went 0-for-9 on clears and as the Thunder tallied 22 shots. The first goal of the day would come from Walker's feed from the back right corner to a nearby freshman Chris Ward (Oak Lawn, Ill./St Rita), who easily put one through the pipes. It was an eight minute, five goal run for the Thunder, which featured a pair of goals from sophomore Adam Martin (Farmington Hills, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central) as well as a man-up goal by senior Dalton Madsen (Westminster, Colo./Northglenn). Walker's second goal closed out the scoring in the first 15 minutes with some help from freshman Jack Brown (Middletown, Ohio/Archbishop Alter).

The second quarter was a disappointing one for both sides, as Trine scored just twice and Calvin finally had possession on offense but couldn't come up with any results thanks to a stout defensive unit led by junior David Louis (Burnsville, Minn./Apple Valley). Senior attackman Ryan Chait (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill) played a role in both goals, dunking one up-close and personal then feeding freshman Nic Ruby (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) for the second. At halftime, the score stood at 8-0 for the Thunder.

Coming out with renewed focus in the third, Trine tallied five goals. As the opportunities mounted, so did the goals, with four different Trine players scoring. Brown earned two goals, Walker nailed a close range shot while Trine was man-down and the Thunder had a rare senior-to-senior connection from midfielder Sean Robb (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) to Madsen. Calvin doubled its shot total from the first half (2) but continued to make costly turnovers.

As the Thunder began to clear its bench and get everyone into the game, the Knights in turn had their best period in the contest. In the period, Calvin had 9 groundballs, posted 4 shots, but most importantly, one goal. The goal came from a scramble situation which featured a host of players on both sides attempting to pick up a groundball from midfield. The Knights came up with it, pushed the tempo, and got a shot off from about 12 yards out, and landed it home. That would be the last goal of the game, as Brown and Madsen finished up their hat tricks to go along with a goal from freshman Jake Ahearn (Naperville, Ill./Naperville) to round out the 18-1 victory.

Walker and Brown both finished the day with three assists. Ward finished the game going 15-of-16 in faceoffs while picking up a career- and game-high 14 groundballs. Freshman Paul Carlquist (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) nabbed seven groundballs while Walker has six. Martin, Carlquist and Brown also led the Thunder with two caused turnovers.

Sophomore Austin Helm (Westfield, Ind./Westfield) earned the win for the Thunder in goal despite not getting the start, playing the second and third quarters and making two saves. Junior Matt Lamb (Akron, Ohio/Revere) got the start but played just the first quarter and did not face a shot. Freshman Sam Margulis (St. Louis, Mo./MICDS) played the final 15 minutes and made one save.

Trine out-shot the Knights 59-to-7 on the afternoon and held a 62-to-33 advantage on groundballs. Trine was perfect on their clearing chances through three quarters but finished 15-of-18. The Thunder also held a 34-to-23 advantage on turnovers but Trine caused just two more, 14-to-12, than the Knights.

Trine's next matchup features two unbeaten teams in the MIAA as the Thunder goes to the road Tuesday to square off against Albion College at 7 p.m. Trine has never lost to Albion, going 3-0 all-time versus the Britons.