EDWARDSVILLE – Wilkes University senior John Wink (Glenside, PA/Abington) posted eight points on five goals and three assists to lead the Colonels to a 12-9 win over visiting Utica College Wednesday afternoon at Schmidt Stadium. The win marked the Colonels second straight victory to move to 2-1 overall to begin the 2019 season John Avery put Utica on the board first taking a pass from James Daniele and sniping a shot past the Colonel keeper top right side of the cage two minutes into the game. Three minutes later the Pioneers upped the advantage to 2-0 with an unassisted goal. JT Weitzel (Hampstead, MD/North Carroll) cut the deficit in half just :11 later taking a faceoff won by violation and darting past the defense for the easy goal. Nico Lorenzo (Howell, NJ/Howell) made it two in a row for Wilkes when he took a pass from Connor Daly (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Twp.) and beat the Pioneers goalie top right tying the game at the 9:29 mark of the opening stanza. The scoring continued for the Colonels as Ethan Weaver (Olney, MD/James Hubert Blake) notched his first collegiate goal in a fine effort play. Weaver, draped by two Pioneer defenders, found a way to split the pair and drill a shot past the goalie for the 3-2 lead. Dylan Dunham recorded his second goal of the afternoon at the 2:47 mark of the quarter scoring unassisted to tie the game for a second time. The Colonels wasted little time taking back the advantage in the second quarter as Wink scored his ninth goal of the season off a nice pass from Luke Palladino (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) Utica was also penalized twice on the play as two Pioneers were called for illegal body checks giving the Colonels a 6-on-4 for one minute. Wilkes cashed in late on the penalty as Nico Lorenzo (Howell, NJ/Howell) scored off an assist from Wink with 13:35 left in the first half pushing the lead to 5-3. Two unanswered goals from Utica, the latter being on the man-up opportunity, tied the game for the third time with 6:51 left in the half. Following a Utica turnover, Wilkes went to the transition game and Wink found Lorenzo all alone at the goal for his fifth tally of the season giving the Colonels a 6-5 lead at the break. Wilkes extended its one point halftime lead just :46 into the third quarter as Wink scored again off an Alex Myers (Cortland, NY/Cortland) assist. Utica responded at the 11:41 mark as Dunham notched his fourth goal of the contest cutting the Wilkes advantage to 7-6. Just :15 later following another Wilkes faceoff win, Wink completed his hat trick finding the back of the net in transition off a helper from Myers pushing the lead back to two at 8-6. The back-and-forth scoring continued as Utica answered back with an unassisted goal with 8:35 left in the third. Utica made the comeback complete with 6:30 on the clock as John Hanlon scored for the Pioneers tying the game at 8-8. Connor Daly (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Twp.) gave the lead back to Wilkes scoring his first of the game off a helper from Wink, his third assist of the game with 2:32 left in the third quarter. After a Utica slashing penalty, Wink scored his fourth goal of the game off a pass from Eric Ormsby (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley), then his fifth strike just one minute later, to extend the lead to 11-8 as the game headed to the final frame. The game went scoreless through the first five and a half minutes of the fourth quarter before Daniele scored unassisted to bring the Pioneers to within two trailing 11-9 with 9:24 left. Another Utica penalty put the Colonels on the extra-man opportunity for the seventh time and Lorenzo cashed in for the fourth time as he deked a defender and drilled a shot past the goalie giving Wilkes a 12-9 advantage with 4:02 remaining. From there offsetting penalties with 2:32 on the clock allowed Wilkes to drain most of the final time and hold on for the three-point non-conference victory. Wink notched his second straight game with at least eight points as the senior has totaled 19 points over the last two games and 21 total this season. Lorenzo followed Wink with four goals, while Daly and Myers each contributed two points. Carter Whittemore (Rochester, NY/West Irondequoit) finished with 13 saves in net for Wilkes recording his second victory of the season. Similar to the Colonels first win of the season over Wesley, the faceoff circle was a big advantage as Wilkes won 18-of-25 attempts thanks to specialist Andrew Moynihan (Easton, MA/Lawrence Academy). The Colonels return to the field Saturday traveling to Reading, Pa. for a non-league contest at Alvernia University at 2:00 p.m.