The Belmont Abbey men's lacrosse team outscored Lees-McRae 8-1 in the second half after holding 8-5 halftime lead to earn its third-straight win with a 16-6 triumph over the visiting Bobcats this afternoon at Alumni Field. Belmont Abbey climbs over the .500 mark with an overall record of 5-4 and 2-1 in Conference Carolinas, while Lees-McRae drops to 3-5 overall and 0-3 in Conference Carolinas.

The Crusaders, which outshot the Bobcats 36-32, received three goals from Dave DiLuigi and Nick Boylan, while Brian Watson and Ryan Corrigan each scored twice. Dan Morrissey, Joey Peruzzi, Matt Spivey, Austin Whitesell, Tyler Rossman and Brian Wallace all had one each. Morrissey and Tanner Scharr both had three assists and Watson totaled two. Matt Malloy, Jake Snyder and Terrance Sullivan all had one each.

Boylan scored the first two goals of the game to put the Abbey ahead with less than five minutes gone by, but Lees-McRae answered with two of its own, by Jordan Shreiner and Derin Vacca to knot the game at two. Shreiner led the Bobcats with three goals while Vacca had two. The score remained tied at two for the next seven minutes of the first period until DiLuigi and Spivey scored back to back with less than a minute left. DiLuigi struck with 45 seconds left and Spivey put the Abbey up 5-2 with 26 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Both teams scored three times in the second quarter. After Lees-McRae's Brad Garner scored a man-up goal with 21 seconds left to drop the Abbey lead to a pair at 7-5, the Crusaders responded with two seconds left to take an 8-5 halftime lead. Lees-McRae turned the ball over deep in the Abbey zone, where Watson scooped up the loose ball with seven seconds left and fired a length-of-the-field pass, right into the crosse of DiLuigi, who caught it on the run, stopped turned and fired home a shot with two seconds left.

The second half was all Crusaders, as they started an offensive burst after allowing a Bobcats goal with 14:07 left in the third. Forrest McConnell scored the only goal for Lees-McRae, and it would not score again. A man-up goal by DiLuigi, followed by a shorthanded goal from Peruzzi put the Crusaders ahead 11-6. With 37 seconds left, Corrigan made it 12-6.

In the fourth, the Crusaders scored four goals while holding the Bobcats scoreless, thanks to some athletic saves by goalkeeper Tony Kikola, who stopped six Lees-McRae shots in the final 15 minutes.

Rossman, Morrissey, Whitesell and Wallace scored the four Crusader goals in the half.

The Crusaders won the ground ball battle 35-29 as Watson's six tied for the game-high. He also won six of nine faceoff attempts. Josh Crouse won seven of his eight face offs. Tristan Keas and Matt Malloy led the Abbey with a pair of caused turnovers.

Merrick Reiland made two saves in the first half, and Kikola finished with ten.