ASTON, Pa. – The Neumann University men's lacrosse team picked up its third straight win to open the season on Sunday afternoon, taking home a 16-7 victory over visiting Wilkes University in non-conference action.
 
Drew Conlon (2 g, 4 a) led the Neumann attack with six points on the afternoon, while Mike Kiley (3 g, 2 a) added five points on the day. Rich Marshall (3 g), Wyatt Bellotti (2 g) and Emmett Wexler (2 g) were the other multi-goal scorers, while Brett McLaughlin (1 g, 2 a) led the team in both ground balls (9) and caused turnovers (5). Jake Marchiafava earned the win in goal, stopping six shots for his third victory of the season.
 
After blitzing Delaware Valley early in Tuesday's contest, the Knights came out much slower in Sunday's opening quarter, conceding the game's first two goals to go down 2-0 just 3:32 into the contest. Neumann would wake up midway through the frame though, using a man up situation to get on the board through Kiley off a feed from Max Nice to make it 2-1 at the 6:48 mark. It wouldn't take long for the hosts to level the contests from there, as Marshall ripped home a goal just 20 seconds later to level the contest 2-2. Wilkes stopped the Neumann momentum with a nicely worked goal three minutes later to make it 3-2, but the Knights were able to get the matchup tied near the end of the frame as Bellotti scored another man-advantage marker to equalize the game at 3-3 heading to the second.
 
The game would continue to stay close well into the second stanza as neither team could get much going offensively. The two teams traded goals midway through the quarter as Neumann took its first lead via a goal from Conlon, only to be answered right back by Wilkes 1:12 later to tie the score at four apiece with 4:32 remaining in the half. The Knights closed the half on top though, dominating the final few minutes of the frame with a pair of goals from Sam Nice and Kiley to take a 6-4 lead into halftime.
 
Neumann would blow the game wide open after the halftime break. Using a quick-strike offense, the Knights were relentless in the third quarter, scoring five times in the opening five minutes of the stanza to take a commanding 11-4 advantage. Conlon played a part in three of those five goals with a goal and two assists in the quick burst, while Kiley, Marshall, McLaughlin and John McGrath also tallied. The highlight of the run came on Marshall's goal as the senior attacker pulled off an incredible spin-move to score behind his back. Bellotti added a sixth goal in the quarter at 6:41 to make it 12-4 before the Colonels finally broke the Neumann run with a goal with six seconds left in the stanza to close the quarter at 12-5 in favor of the hosts.
 
With a seven-goal lead, the Knights cruised from there. Neumann tacked on four more markers in the final frame led by a pair of goals from Wexler. Wilkes found the back of the net twice in the period, but it was nowhere near enough to get the visitors back in the game as the Knights took home the comfortable 16-7 victory.
 
Neumann (3-0) will look to keep its unbeaten run to open the season going when it travels to Shenandoah University on Wednesday, March 2^nd. Game-time is scheduled for 7:00 PM.