The Muhlenberg men's lacrosse team overcame a rocky start to score an impressive 13-9 home win against Scranton.

The Royals, coming off a 13-11 road win against 17th-ranked Cortland, scored four goals in the first half of the first quarter and led 5-1 entering the final minute of the opening period. The Mule defense took over from there, holding Scranton scoreless for a stretch of 33 minutes.

Muhlenberg (2-2) outshot Scranton (2-3) by a margin of 35-8 in the middle two periods en route to taking 65 shots in the game to tie the school record it set five days ago against Susquehanna. The Mules led comfortably throughout the fourth quarter for a rare time against Scranton; the previous three meetings between the two teams were all decided in the final three minutes.

Sophomore Wyatt Malia led the offense with three goals and an assist for his third career hat trick. Graduate student Ethan Grossman also netted four points on a pair of goals and a pair of assists, and junior James Dalimonte and sophomore Jack Quinn scored two goals apiece.

For the defense, juniors Liam Amoruso (pictured above) and Connor Riebling caused two turnovers each. Senior Maxwell Seeber picked up four ground balls.

Malia's goal with 21 second left in the first quarter made it 5-2 and gave the Mules momentum heading into the second period. After Grossman assisted Dalimonte and Quinn on goals 73 seconds apart, sophomore Brandon Caslow converted a pass from Seeber in transition to tie the score with 6:57 left in the half.

It looked like the game would stay tied heading into the break, but Grossman snuck in a goal with just a second on the clock to give Muhlenberg its first lead. 

Third-quarter goals by junior Dominick Visintin and Malia capped the 7-0 run that left the Mules with an 8-5 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Graduate student Matt Burke played a big role in Muhlenberg's comeback. After Scranton won three of the first four faceoffs, Burke won the next 10 and finished 17-of-26 on the X.