FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist men's lacrosse team cruised to a 20-5 win over Alfred State on Wednesday afternoon at Monarch Stadium.
 
The Monarchs improved to 4-5 with the win, while the Pioneers dropped to 2-3 on the season.
 
Jake Smerka got the scoring started with a man-down goal less than three minutes into the game. Chris Lombardi scored off a feed from Kyle Clarkson to make it 2-0 at 11:27 mark, and Smerka scored off an assist from Lombardi to make it 3-0 at 10:50.
 
The Pioneers answered at 8:11 on Aaron Buck's unassisted goal to make it 3-1, but unassisted goals from Ty Haith and Clarkson pushed MU's lead to 5-1 after the first quarter.
 
Alfred State opened the scoring in the second period as Buck found Nicolas Covelli for a goal at the 13:12 mark, but Clarkson hooked up with Ben Click for a goal then scored himself for a 7-2 lead by the 11:06 mark.
 
Ryan Colgan scored for Alfred State, but MU responded with eight straight scores to close through the third quarter for a 15-3 lead entering the final period. MU kept up the offensive pressure in the final 15 minutes, outscoring Alfred State 5-2 in the final period.
 
Methodist dominated the statsheet, out shooting Alfred State, 61-14, forcing 32 turnovers, picking up 55 ground balls to 24 for the Pioneers and winning 25-of-29 face offs. Jordan DeSalvo won 16-of-19 face offs to push his season winning percentage to .713 (129-181). He added 11 ground balls and one goal.
 
MU was led offensively by Clarkson and Smerka who tallied three goals and two assists apiece. They share the team's scoring lead on the season with 29 points each. Lombardi had two goals and an assist, and Click, AJ Mejia and Michael Bradley each scored twice as 14 players notched at least one point in the game. Mejia also had six ground balls, and Clarkson, Trevor Dickinson and Razaun Dantzler each had four. John Tartline caused three turnovers on day, as did Jackson Bingham, Josh Brown and Jacob Fitch.
 
Bingham improved to 3-3 in the cage, starting and playing the first 35:51. He made three saves and allowed three goals. Andrew Chinigo, Liam Von Hoene and Griffen Glover played the remainder of the game and combined to make two saves with two goals allowed.
 
Colgan scored twice to lead the Pioneers, and Buck had a goal and an assist. Ryan Amidon took the loss in the cage, he played 52:00 and made 12 saves with 19 goals against. He also led the team with four ground balls.
 
Methodist will play host to Bridgewater on Saturday beginning at 1:00 pm.