WILMINGTON, Del. – Junior attacker Leighton Cooke ended his 2025 season with a team-leading five goals for fourth-seeded Post University Men's Lacrosse, but it would not be enough for the Eagles to get by top-seeded Wilmington University in Wednesday's CACC Tournament Semifinals matchup.

Falling for the second straight year in the CACC Semifinals to the Wildcats and eighth time overall, 25-10, the Eagles finished the year with a 9-7 record, resulting in their third consecutive season with a winning record after the first nine years of the program ended with below .500 marks.

THE BASICS

Post University 10, Wilmington University 25

#4 Post University (9-7)

#1 Wilmington University (11-3)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Cooke's five goals matched the five-goal effort from sophomore attacker Josh Weston from the Wildcats, but the Eagle defense would be unable to keep Wilmington's offense at bay during what was a 25-goal performance for the home team. Graduate attacker Hunter McCarty finished off his collegiate career with six points, scoring twice and tacking on four assists, as he closed the CACC Tournament, having a combined 14 points across the two games Post played in. Junior attacker Ryan Denike, who had eight points in the CACC First Round against the University of Bridgeport the other day, was held to no points and just one shot overall.

13 different players found the back of the net for Wilmington and beyond Weston, sophomore attacker Josh Lovely and junior attacker Andrew Dzubak recorded four goals and three goals respectively, to finish with hat tricks in the 15-goal win. Post's offense started out slow in the first half, getting outshot 35-16 overall and 22-8 in shots on goal before evening things out in the second half to a more respectable 23-21 and 16-11 margin in both categories despite still trailing the Wildcats in each. 

Freshman goalie Aiden Waller closed his solid first season for the Eagles, making 13 saves on 36 attempts from the Wildcats, while sophomore goalie Daniel Flynn was victorious after allowing only nine goals and making eight saves across 55 1/2 minutes of action. Senior attacker Robbie McGrayne also closed out his illustrious career at Post with four points after scoring once and adding three assists in the defeat. 

Amid the 25-10 loss, the Eagles trailed for a majority of the game, only tying it up at one all with 13:09 to go in the first quarter before a 5-0 run from the Wildcats distanced themselves for the rest of the affair. Post would only be able to pull to within four goals, 9-5, with 4:02 left in the second quarter, but another scoring run, this time of six consecutive goals, gave Wilmington a double-digit lead they would hold on to for essentially the remainder of the afternoon.

BY THE NUMBER

• Leighton Cooke ends the season with 14 hat tricks in 16 games for Post University after scoring five goals in today's game – Cooke finished the year with 54 goals and 28 assists for 82 total points and was named CACC First Team All-Conference earlier in the day
• Post University finishes the season with five double-digit goal scorers led by Leighton Cooke with 54 goals, then Robbie McGrayne (50 goals), Hunter McCarty (38 goals), Will Brien (31 goals), and Ryan Denike (18 goals)
• Wilmington University has now won eight straight matchups in the head-to-head series against Post University since the Eagles won the first matchup in 2018 – Post is now 1-8 all-time against the Wildcats and 0-2 in the CACC Tournament
• For the third consecutive season, Post University has been eliminated in the CACC Semifinals, with the first coming against top-seeded Georgian Court University in 2023, followed by back-to-back losses to top-seeded Wilmington University in 2024 and 2025
• Hunter McCarty was the lone player to make the CACC All-Tournament Team from Post University, which was announced after the CACC Championship concluded