HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, Va. — The Methodist mens' lacrosse team dropped a 19-9 decision at Hampden-Sydney on Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers (3-1) raced out to a 9-2 lead in the second quarter to seize control of the game. After falling behind 2-0 in the first quarter, MU (1-2) got on the board as Andrew Ruskey scored off a Sean Mayefskie feed to make it 2-1 at the 12:09 mark. Two more H-SC goals pushed the Tiger lead to 4-1, before Trevor Dickinson converted following a Ty Haith pass to make it 4-2. 

From there, the Tigers rattled off five consecutive goals, the last coming from Chandler Shaheen for a 9-2 advantage with 12:55 left in the second. Dakota Chapman found Jake Smerka just nine seconds later to make it 9-3, but the Monarchs never got within fewer than six the rest of the way. 

Methodist out shot H-SC 41-36, including 27-4 in the second half, but the Tigers had a slight edge in shots on goal, 23-19. Hampden-Sydney also had a 35-24 edge in ground balls and won 20 face offs to MU's 12. 

Smerka scored four times to lead MU. Dickinson scored twice, and Haith finished with two assists. Mayefskie picked up four ground balls. Andrew Chinigo played the first 21:31 in goal and allowed 12 goals with two saves in taking the loss. Jackson Bingham played the final 38:29 in the cage and made two saves with seven goals against.

Duncan Morris scored eight times for the Tigers. Hunter Brown had a goal and three assists, and Shaheen scored two goals with one assist. Jared Arntzen won 15-of-21 face offs and totaled seven ground balls.

Methodist will open up its home slate on Saturday when it hosts Randolph at 12:00 pm.

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