MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A fast start help carry the Methodist men's lacrosse team to a 15-11 win at Huntingdon on Saturday afternoon at Samford Stadium.
 
The Monarchs (7-6) raced out to a 5-1 lead by the 5:34 mark of the second quarter and kept the Hawks (7-9) all day.
 
Trevor Dickinson got the Monarchs on the board, scoring off a feed from Jake Smerka for a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the contest. After the Hawks tied things up 1-1 at the 10:18 mark, the scoring ground to a halt as neither team found the back of the cage the remainder of the period.
 
In the second quarter, Andrew Ruskey, Ty Haith and Ben Click all scored unassisted to push MU to a 4-1 lead at the 8:25 mark. Kyle Clarkson made it 5-1 when he scored off a feed from Ruskey at 5:34.
 
Huntingdon scored three of the next four goals to pull within 6-4 early in the third period, but MU answered with four straight goals, including goals from Haith and Dickinson, and the Green and Gold took a 10-4 lead with 2:30 left in the third.
 
The Methodist lead reached seven goals at 15-8 before Huntingdon closed out the game with three goals.
 
The Monarchs won 21-of-28 face offs and picked up 45 ground balls to 32 for the Hawks. Methodist also outshot Huntingdon, 45-37.
 
Jackson Bingham earned the win in the cage, playing all 60:00 and making nine saves. Fabien Gutierrez was in the cage for Huntingdon and made 13 saves.
 
Haith led MU with five points on three goals and two assists. Clarkson had three goals and an assist, and Dickinson and Ruskey each scored twice with one assist. Jordan DeSalvo won 20-of-27 face offs and scooped up 12 ground balls. Jake Smerka had five ground balls, and Clarkson and John Tartline each had four. Tartline also had three caused turnovers.
 
For the Hawks, Jakob Works had two goals and an assist, and Brandon Scheele added three goals. Jackson Schrampfer had three caused turnovers and three ground balls.
 
The Monarchs are back at it on Saturday at Ferrum beginning at 2:30 pm.