Box Score Sophomore Kevin Gleason (Loyola Academy, Chicago, Ill.) scored five first-half goals to help propel the Augustana men's lacrosse team to a 15-12 Midwest Lacrosse Conference victory over Hanover on Saturday, April 12 at Thorson-Lucken Field. Hanover fell to 9-5 on the season and 5-3 in league play while the Vikings extended their win streak to six games and moved to 8-3 overall and 5-1 in the MLC.
 
Gleason tallied the first goal of the contest at the 11:36 mark of the first quarter but a minute later Hanover would find the back of the net for the equalizer. The Vikings then scored three straight goals before the Panthers would answer with two scores to pull within one. Another Gleason goal with :56 left in the first quarter gave the Vikings a 5-3 lead but Hanover scored with just seven seconds remaining  to head into the second period down 4-5.
 
Augustana outscored the Panthers by a 6-1 margin in the second quarter with Gleason accounting for half the scores and two assists in the stanza. A Hanover goal with just 1:39 left before intermission gave the Vikings an 11-5 halftime lead.
 
After a pair of unassisted goals by Vincent Giglierano (Archbishop Mitty HS, San Jose, Calif.) and Jesse Nagelberg (St. Charles East HS, St. Charles, Ill.) to open the third quarter, Augustana was outscored for the remainder of the period by a 4-1 margin. Head coach Kyle Hart's crew held a 14-9 lead entering the final period. Hanover struck first to pull within four scores by Colin Haley (St. Charles East HS, St. Charles, Ill.) found the back of the net for his seventh goal of the season and a 15-10 blue and gold lead with 7:20 remaining. The Panthers struck twice more in the contest to pull within three but Hart's squad sealed the 15-12 victory.
 
Gleason led the hosts with five goals and two assists on the afternoon while Nagelberg added a trio of goals and two assists of his own. Haley finished with two scores and two assists in the contest. Also finding the back of the net twice for the Vikings was Alexander Crescenti (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) who also had an assist in the game. Giglierano tallied two scores in the match whereas his teammate Jared Hawkins (Everett HS, Everett, Wash.) scored once for his 10^th goal of the season.
 
Despite being outscored in the second half by a 7-4 margin the Vikings held for the victory. Augustana outshot the visitors by a 55-36 margin and held the ground ball advantage by a 39-28 mark. The Panthers controlled 17-30  faceoffs in the contest but also turned the ball over 18 times as opposed to the hosts' eight. Hart's team successfully cleared all 19 of its attempts while allowing Hanover to clear just 16 of its 27 efforts.
 
Haley led the blue and gold with two caused turnovers and five groundballs on the afternoon while Brady Welvaert (Holmen HS, Holmen, Wis.) and Jon Herdler (Webster Groves HS, Webster  Groves, Mo.) each collected four groundballs.
 
In the goal for the Vikings was Cody Burgdorff (Peak-to-Peak HS, Lafayette, Colo.) who recorded 12 saves in 24 shots on the goal. Burgdorff moved to 8-3 on the season with the win. 
 
The Vikings are in action again on Wednesday, April 16^th when they host Carthage for a 7:00 p.m. contest at Thorson-Lucken Field. The Red Men are currently 9-4 overall and 5-1 in MLC play but will face both Dubuque and Illinois Wesleyan before their visit to Rock Island. Carthage currently holds a 3-0 series advantage against the Augustana program.