Baltimore, Md. – Senior attackman Eric Simon (North Potomac, Md./Quince Orchard) put on a show Wednesday evening as the St. Mary's College of Maryland men's lacrosse team took on No. 19 Denison University on historic Homewood Field at Johns Hopkins University. Despite eight goals in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks' rally fell short as Denison claimed a 14-12 non-conference victory.

Simon finished the evening with a career- and game-best seven goals, including netting five of the team's eight goals in the last period. Senior captain Matt Tarrant (Mount Airy, Md./Urbana) contributed season-highs of two goals and two assists.

St. Mary's (0-4) was down 10-4 heading into the final 15 minutes of play and turned it up a notch, scoring eight goals on 12 shots. The Seahawks posted a 5-1 run to start the fourth and closed the gap to 11-9 with 7:20 remaining in the game. Denison gained a three-goal cushion at 2:47 behind junior Nick Bortolani's (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) second goal of the game.

Simon and junior midfielder Nick Wilkinson (Huntingtown, Md./Calverton) each picked up an unassisted goal in a 34-second span to cut the lead to 13-12 at 1:25. Sophomore defenseman Teddy Sawyer (Lutherville, Md./McDonogh) returned a two-goal lead to the Big Red with 50 seconds on the clock after junior midfielder Eric Baumgardner (Washington, D.C./Gonzaga) won the face-off and passed to Sawyer, who ran it down for the eventual game-winning goal.

Baumgardner won the final face-off as junior defenseman John Reinhardt (York, Maine/Berwick Academy) scooped up the loose ball and Denison successfully killed the clock. The Big Red (5-2) outshot St. Mary's, 45-25, and won the ground ball battle, 33-19. Baumgardner took all 31 face-offs and won 23 times.

Junior Joe Casey (Annapolis, Md./Mount Saint Joseph) finished the game with 13 saves, including six in the second quarter, while first-year Elliott Avis (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) made just three stops in 51:50 as Denison hung on for its fifth straight win.

Simon and Tarrant gave the Seahawks a 2-1 lead at 5:42 before the Big Red scored three straight to take a 4-2 advantage into the second period. Denison staked a 6-3 halftime lead as Casey's six saves kept the Big Red to just two goals in the second. Simon led all scorers at intermission with two goals while sophomore Liam Rooney (Redding, Conn./Barlow) had a goal and an assist to lead DU.

The Big Red outscored St. Mary's, 4-1, in the third quarter as Rooney and junior midfielder James Meager (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) each scored twice to set up the thrilling fourth period.

The Seahawks return to action this Saturday, March 21st as St. Mary's returns to Capital Athletic Conference play in its first home game of the season, hosting Southern Virginia University at 4:00 p.m.

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