FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist men's lacrosse team scored the first 11 goals of the game in racing past Randolph 18-3 on Wednesday afternoon at Monarch Stadium.
 
Matt Layden, Bryce Kephart and AJ Mejia each scored three goals apiece, while MU (1-4) also got multi-goal performances from Michael Bradley, Cade Crews, Connor Glenn and Luke Van der Muelen. Mejia and Bradley each recorded three assists as well.
 
Clay Stevenson started in the cage for MU and played 38:31, making seven saves and allowing just one goal. Jackson Bingham played the final 21:29 and allowed a pair of goals.
 
Following a sluggish first quarter which saw MU scored the period's only goal, an unassisted marker from Bradley, the Monarch poured it on with seven tallies in the second period. Mejia fed Crews at 11:38 to make it 2-0, and just over a minute later MU the Green & Gold went up 3-0 on Kephart's first goal of the contest.
 
The Monarchs got goals 18 seconds apart from Mejia and Bradley to go up 7-0, and Glenn's shot as time expired in the first half squirted past Randolph's Matt Lindenbaum for an 8-0 lead at the break.
 
It took only nine seconds in the third quarter for MU to make it 9-0 as Mejia picked up the ground ball on the opening faceoff and took matters into his own hands, beating Lindenbaum for his second goal of the game.
 
Randolph finally got on the board at the 9:08 mark of the third period when Shane Shifflett fed Kadri Hearns to make it 11-1 as MU cruised to the win.
 
The Monarchs outshot Randolph 49-14 and won the turnover battle 31-18. Methodist also held a 45-29 edge in ground balls and went 3 of 5 with a man advantage.
 
Mejia also scooped up a team-high six ground balls, and Brendan Siemen added five with a pair of caused turnovers. Bryan Cooley Jr. had six caused turnovers and Josh Brown caused three for MU.
 
Methodist will play at Wesley on Saturday beginning at 1 pm.