Illinois - The No. 20-ranked Rhodes College men's lacrosse team opened the 2020 season with a 10-5 victory over DePauw Saturday afternoon before defeating Illinois Wesleyan 15-11 Sunday. The Lynx played both games on the road at institutions that had snow piled along the sidelines. 

DePauw
After a close first half where the Lynx led 5-4, Rhodes held the Tigers to just one goal in the second half which included a shutout in the third quarter. Ryan Dancy scored an unassisted goal to open the second half, the would-be winning goal, which sparked a five-goal run for the Lynx. 

Starting goalkeeper Brendan Roberts made 16 saves in the win. J.J. Hoots went 8-of-11 on faceoffs and tallied four ground balls alongside longstick middie James Margraff who also recorded three caused turnovers. Reigning Southern Athletic Association Newcomer of the Year Alexi Thomas led the Lynx with four caused turnovers. Offensively, Dancy finished the game with a hat trick and assist while Ryan Marasco tallied two goals and Christian Cisneros recorded a goal and three assists. 

Head coach Dave Zazzaro earned his 200th career win to open the season.

IWU
After suffering a 22-9 loss to Rhodes in the second round of the NCAA tournament last season, IWU jumped out to a 3-0 lead, which included scoring the second goal of the game 20 seconds after their first. Cisneros served up senior Matt Perez which began a run of six straight goals for the Lynx, which saw five different scorers. The Lynx were leading 6-3 when the Titans connected on back-to-back goals to pull with one eight 8:22 left in the first half. Another scoring run of five goals spanned the final first half and first eight minutes of the second half, giving Rhodes an 11-5 lead. 

The Titans took advantage of Lynx penalties and scored two man-up goals on a 5-1 run to pull with two (12-10) as the fourth quarter began. Rhodes closed out the game on a 3-1 run and ran out the final couple minutes of the clock by maintaining possession. 

Rhodes scored four man-up goals on nine opportunities, with the final opportunity coming with 1:11 remaining while Rhodes chose to run out the clock. The Lynx defense held IWU to two man-up goals on six chances. Roberts tallied 20 saves in the win, a career-high, while Margraff led the game with four caused turnovers. IWU led the game with 20 faceoffs and a 43-29 ground ball advantage. 

Rhodes held a 35-20 shot advantage in the first half while IWU pressured the Lynx with a 29-15 shot advantage in the second half. Perez finished the game with a career-high seven points on five goals and two assists. Fellow classmate Addison Mueller also hit career-highs recording five points and four goals while adding an assist. Marasco finished the game with a hat trick and Cisneros recorded another three assists and a goal. 

Rhodes will host Transylvania on Saturday at noon in their home opener at Crain Field.