Courtesy Wesleyan Sports Information

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Setting a team record for wins in a season with its 18th victory, Wesleyan (18-2) won the first-ever meeting with perennial national power Nazareth (16-3) in an NCAA Division III men's lacrosse quarterfinal game on Wednesday, 9-6. The win propels the Cardinals to their second straight contest vs. Cortland St. in a national semifinal as Cortland St., the defending national champ, knocked off previously undefeated Western New England, 12-10, in its quarter-final matchup. In last year's semi-final, Cortland St. came back to defeat Wesleyan in overtime, 7-6.

After playing just 3:26 of the first period, Wesleyan and Nazareth were sent back to their locker rooms for an hour to wait out a weather delay due to lightening. As it turned out, a tree not more than 300 yards from the field was struck by lightening during the delay, taking with it the power at Wesleyan's Freeman Athletic Center.

When the teams resumed action, Wesleyan struck first and made it a 4-0 cushion by the 10:47 mark of the second stanza. It was the second game in a row that Wesleyan gained a 4-0 lead at the start, having done so in its 13-9 win over Middlebury May 12 during a second-round game. Two of the four goals came from unlikely sources as senior defender Matt Burke made an individual end-to-end rush and scored just his second goal of the year to make it 2-0 at 6:05 of the first period. At 10:47 of the second, sophomore defensive middie Kwasi Ansu got a great pass from junior Grayson Connors to the middle of the box and fired home his third goal of the season for the 4-0 edge. Senior Mike Hines had opened the scoring at 7:00 of the first stanza from a junior Alex Kaufman feed and sophomore Dan Latzman circled the net and scored for the Cardinals' third goal.

Nazareth came to life in the third period after facing a 5-1 deficit at halftime, due mainly to six timely saves from Wesleyan senior goalie Charlie Congleton, who finished the game with 14 stops.

Two-time All-American senior Ryan Hotaling scored twice in a span of 1:13 to make it a 5-3 game at 8:20 of the third period. One came on a slip-in after working from the rear of the net while the second was from a senior Chad Amidon centering pass. The goals upped Hotaling's total this year to 37 to go with 22 assists for a 59-point season.

Wesleyan top scorer sophomore Jason Ben-Eliyahu responded by converting a sophomore Adam Kirk pass from behind the net into his 35th goal of the year at 3:15 for a 6-3 lead at the end of the third frame. When sophomore Jeff Strittmatter made a fine move from behind the net to come up with his third goal of the season to inaugurate the fourth-period scoring for Wesleyan at 6:27, the Cardinals equaled their largest lead again at 7-3. Freshman Mark DeCirce tallied for the Golden Flyers at 5:42 but Wesleyan put the game away with Ben-Eliyahu's second goal of the contest and a nearly open-net goal by Connors at 1:40 after Nazareth had inserted reserve goalie freshman Cory Spinale for about a minute to help chase the ball in hopes of getting possession. A lapse by Wesleyan in the final minute gave Nazareth a pair of easy goals, one with a man-advantage, as senior Jordan Hirsch had a goal and an assist during the stretch to complete a three-point day as he netted the first-half Nazareth goal.

Wesleyan will host Cortland in this year's semi-final on Sunday, May 20, unlike last year's meeting held in New York. The first time Wesleyan had a 20-game season was 2001 when the squad posted a 17-3 mark, the previous team-high for wins in a season.

Wesleyan is making its third-ever appearance in the NCAAs, having qualified for the first time in 2005, and now stands 5-2 in NCAA tournament play. Nazareth, in its 17th NCAA appearance in the last 20 years, is now 26-14 all-time with three national title, the last coming in 1997.