No. 3 Knights Tally Five in Each Quarter, Beat Owls 20-6

ROSEDALE, Md. -- Heading into Tuesday night's home contest against Union County College, the Knights had not trailed at home this season.

After falling behind 2-0 early, CCBC Essex men's lacrosse woke up and bombarded the Owls en route to a 20-6 victory.

"Honestly, I wish I could take credit for saying something good, but I didn't say anything," said Knights head coach Shawn Burke. "I think our guys sometimes try to do a little too much early in games, try to put on a show, instead of keeping it simple and playing the game. We [the coaches] just reminded them of that."

The Knights (5-0) had 11 different goals scorers and eight student athletes chipped in assists.

Freshman attackman Brendan Nolan (Fallston), freshman midfielder Cole Rainier (The Calverton School) and sophomore attackmen Cameron Stone (Foothills, Calif.) and Julian Jackson (Wilson, Pa.) led the way with three goals apiece.

Sophomore midfielder Nick Mazza (The Calverton School), usually known more for his scoring ability, finished the game with one goal and five assists for a total of six points.

Nolan scored the Knights first two goals of the night to pull his team even with the Owls.

"Our defenseman was ball watching, so I was just cutting right behind him," said Nolan. "The guys [on offense] saw me open and I took the passes and put them away."

Freshman midfielder Ian McDonald (Assumption, Ontario) scored a man-up goal 10:19 into the first quarter that put the Knights on top 3-2.

The Owls scored just under two minutes later to tie the score at three.

Nolan added his third and final goal with seven seconds remaining in the opening frame to put the Knights back up 4-3. Six seconds later, Rainier tallied his first of the night.

Rainier would join Mazza by the end of the night as the only two to finish the game with six points.

The Knights dominated the rest of the game, outscoring the Owls 15-3 in the process.

At the start of the second quarter, Essex's determination became evident.

The Knights scored a man-down goal 2:22 into the frame, all the while killing a 3:00 penalty for an illegal procedure.

Sophomore midfielder Ben Linkous (St. Paul's School) turned in worthy performance, scoring two goals and one assist.

Freshman midfielder Aaron Snyder (Arundel) scored his first career goal in the fourth quarter. Sophomore middie Parker Jones (Bel Air) scored 10 seconds behind him.

The Knights next play on Saturday and will host No. 1 Onondaga. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 1 PM.