MT. VERNON, Iowa – The University of Dubuque men's lacrosse season used two big quarters on Wednesday afternoon on their way to a dominant 14-4 victory at Cornell to open the 2021 campaign.
 
It took just over five minutes into the season for the Spartans to find the back of the net with Zach Schmitt finding Gavin Hughes for the first goal of the season and the early 1-0 lead. Cornell would right back 39 seconds later to get the game all back to square. Both offenses went quiet for nearly the next eight minutes unto the Spartans got another goal with 36 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
 
The Spartans carried the momentum from the late first quarter over to the second and the offense exploded for an avalanche of goals, scoring seven second quarter goals to take a 9-1 lead into halftime.
 
Cornell put a little dent into the UD lead, scoring the first three goals of the third quarter to cut the UD lead down to 9-4. However, the Spartans got their fourth goal of the game with under 40 seconds remaining in a quarter to end the third quarter to put an end to the miniature Cornell run. That goal would re-ignite the Spartans as UD would score the only four goals of the fourth quarter to run away from the Rams and coast to a 14-4 victory.
 
Tanner Weis and Ben Farraday led the Spartan attack against the Rams, each recording three goals in the win. The Spartans moved the ball well in the win over Cornell, assisting on nine of 14 goals with Weis, Tyler Phipps and Zach Schmitt each passing out two. UD's Nikolas Wortman would control the face-off circle, winning 15 of 19 chances to help lead the UD offense to several quick scores.
 
Freshman George Smirl got the start in the net for UD, coming away with eight saves, while allowing only the four goals in 60 minutes of action.
 
Up next, the Spartans will travel to Concordia Wisconsin on Saturday, Feb. 28 with a 1 p.m. start time.