The University of Mary Washington men's lacrosse team dropped a 21-16 decision to visiting Roanoke College on Wednesday afternoon at the Battleground. The Eagles slip to 6-5 on the season.

The Eagle offense started red hot, scoring eight goals in the first quarter in taking an 8-4 lead. Senior J.D. Nozemack started the scoring just 31 seconds into play, and Hunter Tipton added another at 13:40 on a Kristophe Newman assist. After Roanoke scored a pair to tie the score, Keegan Shipe scored unassisted at 11:49, and Nozemack followed with two more goals to put the Eagles up, 5-2.

Roanoke would answer, but UMW came right back, as Shipe scored his second of the day, on a Nozemack feed, with 5:10 remaining. Roanoke drew to with 6-4, but the Eagles closed the period with scores from Tipton and Nozemack.

In the second, the Eagle offense added three tallies to take a lead to halftime. After Roanoke scored twice to draw to within 8-6, Nathan Turney, Owen Castleman, and Nozemack found the nets to give UMW an 11-6 lead at halftime.

The Maroons got hot in the third quarter, outscoring UMW, 8-3, as Logan Green, Jackson Davis, and Garrett Keogh scored for the home side. In the fourth, the period started tied at 14. Roanoke scored three straight to go up 17-14, before Sam Pugliese scored in transition to pull UMW back to within 17-15. The teams then traded scores, with Green scoring on a Kevin Cruz assist, but Roanoke closed the game with three straight goals.

Nozemack scored five goals and added four assists to lead UMW, while Green, Tipton, and Shipe each had two goals.

The Eagles were outshot, 48-46, and held a 51-50 edge in ground balls. UMW goalkeeper Riley Green made 13 saves, while John Staugaitis had 12 ground balls in winning 23-39 faceoffs.

UMW will return to action on Saturday, when the Eagles host Messiah University at 3:30 p.m.