Atchison, KS – The eighth-ranked UC men's lacrosse team jumped out to a 9-3 lead en route to an 11-8 win over Benedictine Friday afternoon at O'Malley Field at Larry Wilcox Stadium and Amino Center.  With the win the Patriots improve to 6-3, while the Raven fall to 3-6.

Kody Swann won the opening faceoff and on UC's possession Caleb Elerick found Sam Collinson for a goal to give the Patriots a 1-0 lead.  Cumberlands extended its lead four minutes later as Preston Brooks connected with Collinson in front of the cage for a goal.  George Shunnarah forced a Raven turnover and in the transition Whitten McCune put a well-placed shot into to back of the cage to make it 3-0 with 6:20 left in the first quarter.  Nick DiFranco scooped the groundball of the ensuing faceoff as the Patriots capitalized with Dalton Smith finding Justin Darley for a goal to give Cumberlands a 4-0 edge.

Benedictine tallied the first goal of the second quarter, however the Patriots were quick to answer a Smith netted an unassisted goal to make it 5-1 with 4:44 left.  The score remained that way until the final minute as Collinson scooped the ground ball off a McCune shot and put it home for a goal to give Cumberlands a 6-1 lead at the break.

The Patriots started the second half with the ball after a penalty and on the first possession of the third quarter McCune fired an unassisted goal to extend the lead to 7-1. Benedictine scored two of the next three goals to make it 8-3 with 4:33 left. A couple minutes later, DiFranco forced a Ravens turnover, Jake Mitchell scooped the ground ball and found Collinson for a goal to give UC a 9-3 lead after three quarters.

The Ravens scored three unanswered goals to start the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 9-6 with 4:23 left. Cumberlands responded as Brooks' shot connected with the back of the cage to make it 10-6.  UC added another goal 22 seconds later as Mitchell found Dylan Crouch for his first goal of the game.  The Ravens added a pair of goals in the final two minutes for the 11-8 final.

Collinson led the way for the Patriots with a season-high four goals, while McCune added a hat trick. Swann went 15-19 on the faceoff and was one of three Patriots along with DiFranco and Jake Morgan to tally seven ground balls.  DiFranco also added four caused turnovers, while Morgan recorded three of his own. 

Will Settle made eight saves in the contest, including four in the first half. 

The Patriots will return to the field Friday, March 23, when they travel to Montreat, NC to take on Cavaliers.  The game is set for 7 p.m.

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