ARLINGTON, Va. – Shutdown defense by the Marymount men's lacrosse team in the second half, blanking St. Vincent to a single goal, led the Saints to an 11-6 victory on Saturday afternoon at Long Bridge Park. 

The first half remained tight, however, it went in favor of the Bearcats. St. Vincent built a 4-2 lead through the first quarter although the Saints opened the game with the first goal off a connection between juniors Sean Friedman and Matthew Ebert. The other goal for MU was scored by freshman Connor Griffin with senior Nathan Beard sending out his first assist of three for the day. 

The second quarter saw the Bearcats build their largest lead of the game with two-straight goals to take a 6-2 advantage by the 7:26 mark, but that's the last they'd score in the game. 

Before the break, Marymount put away two more to cut the deficit at the half to two, 6-4, off finishes by Beard and freshman Jonah Mackiewicz. 

Making some adjustments at the half, the Saints came out and throttled off a 5-0 third quarter to taking a 9-6 advantage. Senior Brent Sulhoff got the scoring started on the restart before freshman Clark Akers connected on back-to-back goals to give the Saints their first lead since the beginning of the game. 

Ebert and Friedman finished off the scoring in the quarter, while Ebert and Mackiewicz notched the two goals in the fourth to seal up the 11-6 decision with assists coming from Akers and freshman Bradley Sechler. 

On the faceoff, junior Christian Lutz held strong for another great performance, winning 14-of-20, while scooping four off clean. On the others, senior John Williamson picked up a tied game-high five ground balls, while Friedman registered five as well. 

Junior Hunter McGeeney led seven different Saints in caused turnovers with two. 

On the offensive end, Beard and Friedman finished with four-point days, each with a goal and three assists, while Ebert collected a hat trick of goals. 

Junior Patrick Ruleman earned his first win of the season in net, tending for the full 60 minutes for a career-high 14 saves. 

The Saints will head on the road for their next game, traveling to Shenandoah on Wednesday, March 7 for a 7 p.m., start.