ASTON, Pa. – The Neumann University men's lacrosse team opened its 2018 season in style on Monday afternoon, picking up a 13-6 win over visiting Alvernia University in non-conference action.

Chris Augustine (1 g, 4 a) and Colin Blake (1 g, 4 a) paced the Neumann attack with five points each in the win, while Chris Bellon and Bo Olshefsky also scored three goals apiece. Jack Newswanger was dominant on face-offs (17-18 on draws) and goalie Brendan Risley was outstanding in net, stopping 17 shots to pick up the win.

Alvernia took an early 1-0 lead just a minute and a half into play, but the remainder of the opening quarter would be all Knights. Neumann tallied four unanswered goals to finish the first frame with a 4-1 lead. The Knights got a pair of goals from Bellon and one each from Adam Fagan and Eric Conlon.

The second stanza was a much quieter quarter with just one goal scored between the two teams. That one goal was notched by Neumann's Augustine at the 5:17 mark of the period off a feed from Blake to give the Knights a commanding 5-1 lead headed into halftime.

Trailing by four goals early in the second half, the Golden Wolves fought back into the game with a pair of goals to start the third quarter to cut the Neumann lead back to two. The Knights would answer back late in the quarter though, as Bellon capped off his hat trick at the 4:16 mark to send the game to the final quarter with Neumann up 6-3.

The two teams traded a pair of early fourth quarter markers to make it 7-4, but that was as close as the game would be the rest of the way. Following the Alvernia goal to make it 7-4 at the 13:34 mark of the final period of play, the Knights retaliated with five consecutive goals in the next seven minutes to blow the game wide open. Fagan, Conlon, Olshefsky, Blake and John McKendry all scored in the 5-0 run to help Neumann cruise the rest of the way. The Golden Wolves would add a few late goals, but it wasn't nearly enough as the Knights took home the 13-6 win.

Neumann (1-0) will now head south to Savannah, Georgia for a pair of games this coming weekend. The Knights will take on Pfeiffer College on Saturday, February 24^th at 2:00 PM and Virginia Wesleyan College on Sunday, February 25^th at 11:00 AM.