Arlington, Va. – Goals were in no short supply on Wednesday night as the Marymount men's lacrosse team downed visiting Shenandoah, 16-12, in the high-octane nonconference bout.  The Saints improve to 3-4 on the season with the win.

Marymount jumped out to an immediate lead as Nico Burns sniped his 11th goal of the season within the opening two minutes.  Shenandoah netted the equalizer with 5:31 remaining and ignited a brief, but vicious, to-and-fro in the process.  The ensuing possession saw the Saints pepper the cage with multiple shots, with Nate Beard finally notching the go-ahead goal with 3:11 on the clock.  Much like before, the Hornets marched down the field and, capitalizing on a Marymount penalty, swiped their second for the 2-2 knot.

The Saints stole the momentum in the remaining first-quarter ticks – thanks in large part to Matt Justice.  The junior used a feed from Michael Mene to collect the 3-2 advantage with just 34 seconds showing.  After Marymount swiped the ensuing faceoff, Justice showed off some tremendous field vision, hitting Sam Dupont in stride for his first goal of the season.

While Shenandoah worked its way back to even in the opening minutes of the second quarter, another goal from Justice – this time from Beard – would break the deadlock, 5-4.  Garrett Nealon found Jimmy Wendell shortly following the next faceoff, and Wendell in turn blistered the back of the net with a low laser at the 7:55 mark.

Marymount used two goals in the closing minutes – both from Wendell – to build an 8-4 lead heading into the break.

Coming out of the intermission, the Saints notched another two strikes to up the ante to six, 10-4.  Proving quite the dynamic force, the Nealon-to-Wendell combination resurfaced for the third time just moments into the third quarter.  Nealon hit Wendell with a crisp pass about ten yards out, and the senior hammered home his fourth tally of the night.  Wendell added his fifth just moments later after spinning multiple defenders on his way to the cage.

The Hornets notched a pair before Justice wheeled and fired an absolute bullet for his third strike – giving the Saints the 11-7 advantage.  SU used another man-up opportunity to cut the margin to three, 11-8, at the 3:27 mark.

Andrew Fournier proved the primary architect of the Saints offensive response.  The senior won the ensuing faceoff, chipping the ball cleanly out to teammate Tyler DaSilva.  DaSilva worked the ball back into Shenandoah territory, before tossing it back to Fournier, who found room to run and rifle – notching his first goal of the season on an ankle-high dart.

Burns added his second with 1:39 left on the clock, giving the Saints the 13-8 lead heading into the fourth.

It was then that Shenandoah found some urgency.  The Hornets netted three unanswered goals – effectively whittling the margin to two, 13-11, by the 10:36 mark.  Marymount countered with two of its own – courtesy of the hot-handed pair, Justice and Wendell, who notched their fourth and sixth strikes, respectively, in the two-minute span.

Shenandoah cut the gap to three, 15-12, with a man-up blast at the 5:01 mark, but the Saints backline would quell any further revolts.  Marymount added its final tally with 1:34 left to play as Mene poured in a missile for good measure.

The Saints dominated the contest in multiple areas, including their impressive 50-17 edge in groundballs.  DaSilva grabbed nine to pace the squad, while Fournier and Max Johnson each collected five.

Marymount returns to action on Saturday when it travels to CAC counterpart Christopher Newport.  Faceoff is slated for 1:00 p.m.