GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Methodist men's lacrosse team, in its second year, eclipsed last season's win total with a 10-6 win over Wabash on Tuesday in a game played at Furman University.
 
The Monarchs improved to 4-3 on the year, which is already one win better than the three MU won in its inaugural season. Wabash slipped to 0-3 on the season.
 
Justin Layden got the Monarchs on the board at the 11:46 mark with an unassisted goal before the Little Giants tied the contest with 7:37 left in the first quarter on Glenn Patterson's goal off a feed from Zach Darabaris.
 
Methodist scored the next four goals to close out the first quarter and open the second quarter to take a 5-1 lead at the 14:01 mark. Trevor Dickinson, Chris Lombardi and Matt Layden each had two points during that stretch. Wabash halted the Monarchs' run as Adrian Tejada score 3:53 before the break, but Sean Mayefskie and Jake Smerka each scored to close out the half, and the Monarchs took a 7-2 lead at halftime.
 
Wabash scored the only two goals of the third quarter and then opened the scoring in the fourth to close the gap to two goals (7-5) with 11:29 left in the contest, but MU closed the game on a 3-1 run to pick up the win.
 
Liam Van Hoene picked up his second win in the cage for the Monarchs. He made nine saves against six goals allowed. Todd Hoogland was outstanding for Wabash in the cage, making 24 saves on the day. Methodist out shot Wabash, 53-26, on the day. The Monarchs also won 14-of-19 face offs, were successful on all 15 clear attempts, and the MU man-down defense held Wabash to 0-for-8 with a man advantage.
 
Matt Layden finished with three goals and Smerka had two goals and a pair of assists. Jacob Fitch and Trent Diaz led the Green and Gold with eight and seven ground balls, respectively, and Diaz won 13-of-16 faceoffs.
 
Patterson and Austin Crosley each scored twice for Wabash, and Zach Darabaris had a goal and an assist. Tejada had six ground balls, and Scott Purucker caused six turnovers.
 
The Monarchs are back in action on Thursday when they host Cazenovia at 1:00 pm.