The Muhlenberg men's lacrosse team turned up its defense in the second half to pull away for an 11-8 home win against Swarthmore.

The Mules (6-2, 2-0), who trailed by two goals twice early in the game, forced the Garnet (6-4, 0-2) into 12 turnovers while allowing only nine shots in the second half. The win was the sixth straight for the Mules - the third-longest winning streak in program history - and gave them a 2-0 start in the Centennial Conference for the first time ever. 

Graduate student Ethan Grossman, juniors Jason Metz and James Dalimonte and sophomore Jack Quinn paced the offense with two goals apiece.

Swarthmore scored the first two goals of the game and led 5-3 after scoring twice in a span of 53 seconds early in the second quarter. Metz, who came in with one goal all season, tied the contest with his second goal of the game, and Dalimonte gave Muhlenberg its first lead with exactly one minute left in the first half.

The Garnet drew even at 7-7 with 8:43 remaining in the third quarter, but the Mules allowed only one goal the rest of the way.

Dalimonte beat the possession clock to put Muhlenberg ahead to stay with 3:54 to go in the third, and senior Matt Marrella scored with a flag down late in the quarter to make it 9-7. 

Quinn's two goals sealed the victory, the first coming on a rebound of a blocked shot with 7:17 left and the second off a pass from Grossman at the 2:22 mark.

Junior Max May put the final stamp on the win by stopping a point-blank shot from close range in the final minute.

The Mules' long sticks combined for seven caused turnovers, led by senior Kyle Lando with three. Senior Maxwell Seeber recorded two, and junior Liam Amoruso and graduate student Joe Sokolowski (pictured above) forced one each. Amoruso's interception set up Quinn's first goal.

Seeber picked up six ground balls, as did graduate student Matt Burke, who won 13 of 22 faceoffs, mostly against a Garnet specialist who came in having won more than 66 percent of his faceoffs.