The University of Mary Washington men's lacrosse team dominated the faceoff circle from the opening whistle, and junior Dave Votapek tied a career high with five goals to lead the Eagles to a 23-8 victory over Stockton University on Saturday in both teams' Coastal Lacrosse Conference opener. The Eagles, winners of four straight, improve to 7-4 on the season.

Junior Jacob Fowler began his success on faceoffs with the opener, taking his win to goal to score the Eagles' first tally, six seconds into the game. Senior Carter Lynch followed at 12:52 on a Tanner Boone assist, and Fowler then gained the ensuing faceoff and found Votapek for his first of the day seven seconds later, giving UMW a 3-0 lead with just 2:15 elapsed into the game.

At that point, the Eagles found themselves in the penalty box, and Stockton responded with a pair of man-up goals to pull to within 3-2. UMW righted the ship late, scoring three times in the final 1:34 of the frame. Reece Stone scored at 1:34, and Boone added another with 27 seconds left. Antonio Zeno took a caused turnover and converted it into goal just before the final horn, and UMW carried a 6-2 lead to the second quarter.

The Ospreys climbed close again with two more man-up scores, but the Eagles again responded, with three straight scores from Votapek to move ahead, 9-4, and another from Boone to lead, 10-4, with 3:07 left in the quarter. Stockton scored late in the second and again to open the third to pull to within 10-6.

Senior All-American Keegan Shipe and Votapek responded with unassisted goals at 9:49 and 8:52 to push the margin to 12-6, and, following a Stockton goal, UMW reeled off eight straight to put the matter to rest. Tommy Jackson and Greyson Reylek posted unassisted goals to close the third, and Dylan Frost scored to open the fourth, before three man-up goals for UMW - one from Stone and a pair from Frost. Tucker bradley scored on a Henry Moag assist and Nathan Turney scored on a Votapek feed to cap the run with 8:02 remaining.

Stockton scored with 5:54 left, but the Eagles scored late on goals from Moag, Matt DiGiacomo, and J.D. Nett, with the last two coming on assists from A.J. Lembo.

The Eagles led in shots, 71-27, as well as ground balls (keyed by a 29-4 faceoff advantage), 58-26. Fowler won 13-15 faceoffs and Reylek scored wins on all 12 of his attempts. Goalkeeper Wyatt Martin made five saves in 53 minutes, while Matt D'Angelo, C.J. Cohen and Matt Silva turned in minutes in relief.

UMW will be back in action next Saturday, when the Eagles visit Montclair State University in CLC action at 11:00 a.m.