DUBUQUE, Iowa - The University of Dubuque men's lacrosse team finally returned back to Oyen Field after a four game road stretch and 26 days since they last played at home. Mother nature has not been kind to the Spartans in their home games as most, if not all of them have had weather issues one way or another. Tonight was no different as the wind and rain poured down on Oyen Field in their match-up with Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) opponent, the Monmouth College Fighting Scots. The Spartans would ultimately prevail the dreadful elements as they took down the Fighting Scots thanks to the Spartans stellar offensive attack putting up 21 goals on their way to a 21-11 conference victory. The Spartans get back to .500 at 7-7 and sit in first place in the MLC standings at 3-0. 

The Spartans were able to snag momentum right out of the gate with Giovanni Silva scoring a man-up goal not even a minute into the game. Later in the first quarter, the Fighting Scots would knot the game at 4-4 before Zach Schmitt found the back of the net to give the Spartans the lead. The Spartans managed to push their lead to 13-6 at the break, before building their biggest lead of the game at 20-9 at the 10:33 mark of the fourth quarter and then finishing the cold and rainy game with a double digit victory, 21-11. 

The Spartans leading scorers tonight were Aidan Culligan and Ben Farraday who each found the back of the net four times and each added two assists. Sam Todd led the team in points with three goals and three assists. As a team, the Spartans shot 62 times with 39 shots on goal (.629) and collected 30 ground balls. The Spartans forced 31 turnovers and were successful on 22-23 clears. Ryan Gartner got his seventh win in goal this season with 10 saves in 60 minutes. 

UP NEXT
The Spartans will hit the road for the final time in the regular season as they take on the University of Northwestern (MN) this Saturday, April 23 at 12:00 p.m. The Spartans will then conclude the regular season with two home games next week.