Waukesha, Wis. – The Carroll University men's lacrosse team won their home opener in overtime against Northland College. The Pioneers won 7-6 on an overtime sudden-death goal by Anthony Defilippis. Freshman Brandon Welsek led the way for the Pioneers with a career-high four goals on the day. Senior Josh Kovach added two of his own goals to help lift the Pioneers to victory.

The Pioneers (1-1) got up 21 shots during the game and capitalized on seven of the shot attempts getting 13 shots on goal. Jake Gehl faced 39 shots throughout the game, with 20 shots on target. Gehl was able to make 14. Spencer Lautner led the team in ground balls and caused turnovers, as Carroll grabbed 30 ground balls and forced 39 turnovers.

Carroll won the opening faceoff but would quickly turn the ball over but would quickly regain control. After maintaining position Welsek would get Carroll on the board first with his first goal of the season. Less than a minute later Brady Raczkowski would force a turnover that would lead to another goal from Welsk to put the Pioneers up 2-0. The two teams would then battle back and forth until Northland was able to get some momentum going and score a goal. The two teams would battle defensively, and Carroll would go into the second period up 2-1. The two teams would continue to scrap until once again Northland found a rhythm and scored to even the game 2-2 with 6:03 to go in the half. Just two minutes later the Lumberjacks would continue their run to take their first lead of the game. This would close the half with Northland up 2-3. Carroll would come out of the half and go on their own two-goal run led by Josh Kovach scoring both goals to give Carroll a 4-3 lead. :20 seconds after the Pios claimed the lead back, Northland would score to even the game with 9:30 left in the third period. The two teams would stall and head into the final period tied 4-4. The final period continued with a defensive match as neither team could get an offensive rhythm going. However, with 4:16 to go in the game, Welsek responded once again giving the Pios a 5-4 lead. With 1:24 to go in regulation, Northland would call a timeout and draw up a good set allowing them to tie the game. Coming off the score Northland would win the faceoff and get another goal to take a 5-6 lead with :23 seconds left. All felt lost for the Pios until once again Welsek found a response and scored with :04 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 6-6 and force overtime. Coming out of overtime Northland would win the faceoff. Carroll's defense would have to come up with one more stop, and that's just what they did. After an unforced turnover by Northland, Carroll gained possession. They got down to the other end of the field and found Defilippis, who made the sudden death goal. Giving the Pioneers a 7-6 victory and their first home win since 2018.  

The Pioneers welcome Edgewood College to town, as Carroll looks to start a home win streak on Wednesday, Mar. 1 at Schneider Stadium.