By: Ryan Gasser, sports information director

WOOSTER, Ohio – Capital University Men's Lacrosse overcame a six-goal deficit to take a tie game into the golden quarter with host College of Wooster. However, the Fighting Scots' defense bandaged its defense in the fourth and claimed a 12-10 victory at John P. Papp Stadium on Wednesday night.

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QUICK START ERASED

• Capital broke out for the game's first two goals and took that lead all the way inside the last two minutes of the opening quarter. Talbott Gottwals put Capital on the board first in the fourth minute, followed by Adam Rieger's skip shot from a cross-field pass by CJ Hughes with 4:26 remaining.
• Wooster then responded with four unanswered goals, all inside the final two minutes of the first quarter. Drake Nickolaison scored two of those goals, including the go-ahead third goal.
• Joe Citera scored the Fighting Scots' fourth goal with five seconds left on the clock to take a 4-2 lead over CU into the first break.
• Talbott Gottwals scored his second goal to break up the Wooster run and keep Cap to within two scores of the Scots, but goals by Cooper Prewitt and Cullen Kuhn increased the hosts' lead to four, 7-3, going into halftime.

HOPE IS NOT LOST

• Wooster opened the second half with two more goals inside the opening two minutes of the third quarter to make for a second four-goal run and Nickolaison's completion of a hat trick. However, this is where Capital's comeback bid began.
• Freshman Cody Colon scored his first collegiate goal to get the Capital rally started and was followed by another seldom-called name in senior Nick Latshaw. The duo fed into a run in which the Crusaders outscored the Scots 7-1 over the final 13 minutes of the third quarter.
• CJ Hughes finally got into the goal column with the first of his four in the game, all of which came in the third frame.
• After Hughes' first goal was answered by Wooster's Cooper Pewitt, the junior scored once again with 6:59 to go in the third to keep Capital within three goals.
• Capital then benefited from Adam Yeo's penalty for unnecessary roughness when senior Carter McCormick scored a man-up goal off of Hughes' feed to make the score 10-7.
• Hughes had his hand in each of the last five Capital goals in the third quarter. After McCormick's man-up goal, Hughes scored back-to-back tallies to tie the game with 27 ticks remaining in the frame.

FINAL MOMENTS

• After losing sight of Hughes and allowing the Crusaders to take 15 shot attempts in the third quarter, the Fighting Scots altered its defensive plan and clamped down in the final quarter. Capital was held to just six shots and committed eight turnovers in its scoreless fourth.
• Capital's offensive efforts were also marred by three penalties, which took 2:00 off the clock while playing man-down defense. Capital killed all three penalties.
• After five minutes of a scoreless quarter, Pewitt finally broke the tie with what would be the eventual game-winning goal. He scored an unassisted goal with 9:17 remaining to take an 11-10 lead.
• Nickolaison captured his fourth goal of the game with 3:00 to go, ensuring the Fighting Scots' win.

BY THE NUMBERS

• While CJ Hughes led the Crusaders with four goals and two assists, only one of those points came outside of the third quarter.
• Talbott Gottwals posted a four-point game behind two goals and two assists, plus added three ground balls.
• Pewitt served as the second Wooster player to hit for a hat trick after scoring three goals and one assist.
• Senior Tyer Faig had a successful night on the 'X', winning 8-of-14 faceoffs against Ollie Jimba (11-24).
• Sophomore Sam McInturf (L, 2-2) took the loss despite making eight saves. His counterpart, Wesley Wagner (W, 2-1) made 13 saves on 23 shots faced.

NEXT UP

Capital (2-2) will break for 10 days before taking the field again. They play the second of three straight road games in its next action on Saturday, March 14 at Transylvania University (1 p.m.).