CHELTENHAM (PA) – In the third ever Battle For The Bucks-Mont Hammer, Arcadia University defended its home turf by scoring seven goals in the first quarter and never looking back, en route to a 12-8 victory over Delaware Valley University.

The Knights (3-1) earned their second consecutive Bucks-Mont Hammer, the keepsake chosen to represent the blue-collar mentality shared by the two programs that is given to the winner of the game each year. The rivalry is just three years old, but is set to be the cornerstone event of the non-conference slate for two young programs representing neighboring counties in Pennsylvania (Bucks for the Aggies and Montgomery for the Knights).

DelVal (0-2) fell into an early 3-0 deficit after just 82 seconds of play as Arcadia scored three goals in a 23 second span. Josh Keitz had two assists including one to Clo Muscara for his 10 goal of the season.

The Aggies got on the board with 11:06 left in the first when P.J. Rafferty set up senior Chris Coyle during a man-up opportunity for his fourth of the year. The team's then traded goals with Matt Laurence finding Nick Shendge for the second DelVal tally and 4-2 game.

However, the Knights closed the quarter with three goals in the final three minutes, including a pair by Austin Williams to make it 7-2 going into the second.

The Aggie defense closed the door over the next 24:14 of game-time, not allowing Arcadia to score another goal over that stretch. During that span, the DelVal offense managed two goals, with Coyle getting his second and Dylan Brasch scoring, to make it 7-4 at the half.

The Knights finally snapped their drought with 5:46 left in the third quarter when Muscara scored his third goal of the day to put his team back up by four, 8-4. The lead ballooned to 10-5 in favor of Arcadia as the game went to the final 15 minute stanza.

Laurence scored the first goal of the fourth quarter 4:58 in with an unassisted tally that made it a four-goal game, at 10-6. Unfortunately for the Aggies, four points was as close as they would get the rest of the way as each team potted two more goals down the stretch for the 12-8 final.

Laurence led DelVal with a career-high six-point game on three goals and three assists. Coyle finished with three goals on 11 shots and Rafferty picked up two helpers and four ground balls. Brasch and Shendge added one goal each with Shendge also earning an assist. Defensively, Alex Hardy led the group with four ground balls and three caused turnovers. The Aggies won just 6-of-24 face-offs but were only penalized twice compared to 11 for Arcadia. Gavin Yingling made 12 saves on 24 shots in goal.

Austin Williams scored four times and assisted once to lead the Knights with five points while three other players had three-point days. Muscara scored three times for his three points while Nick Ferraro had two goals and one assist and Josh Keitz got his three points by way of three assists. A.J. Beck played every minute between the pipes and made 15 saves on 23 shots.

???????DelVal will look to get into the win column at its home-opener this Wednesday, March 7 when Kean University comes to Doylestown, PA. for a 7 p.m. start.