WESTMINSTER (MD.) -- The Delaware Valley University men's lacrosse team opened its 2020 campaign at McDaniel College and fought back to tie the game at halftime, but surrendered four unanswered goals in the third quarter that led to a 10-8 non-conference setback. 

The Green Terror got two goals in the first 3:18 of play, the last an unassisted tally by Cooper Archambault. Off the ensuing faceoff, Bryan Thompson won the draw and pushed the ball up-field where he found Dylan Brasch to get the Aggies on the board with the first goal of the season and make it 2-1 in the early going.

Joey Conklin got it back to a two-goal game for McDaniel, but DelVal needed just 18 seconds to get it right back as Chris Dearden got his first career tally unassisted. The Green Terror added two more before the end of the stanza to take a 5-2 lead into the second. 

Over five minutes into the second, senior PJ Rafferty, the program's all-time leader in points scored got his first of 2020 as he deposited a pass from Lucien St. Onge to get the deficit back to two. 

After Jackson Reilly scored his first of the day to make it 6-3, McDaniel, the Aggies put together a 3-0 run over the final 6:08 of the half to knot the score at six apiece at the break. Khalil Lindsey got the first followed by Rafferty's second of the day, and in the waning seconds of the stanza Rafferty set up Ben Napieralski for his first of the year to make it 6-6. 

In the third quarter, the Green Terror pulled away as they scored four times and kept DelVal off the board. The Aggies had six shots in the stanza, but just two on cage. 

DelVal tried to surmount the comeback in the fourth and the defense did its job by keeping McDaniel off the scoreboard. The offense scored two quick goals separated by 1:07 to make it a 10-8 game with 4:23 left in regulation, but that is all that DelVal would get as the clock wound down on the 10-8 final. 

Rafferty finished with three points on two goals and an assist and Napieralski finished with two points. Freshman Brett Ziegler scored his first collegiate goal late in the fourth and Matt Waibel had one goal with four shots on target. Napieralski got off 10 shots, five on cage, and Brasch followed with nine shots and four on cage. Three different players forced a turnover and Bryan Thompson had six ground balls with 12-of-21 faceoffs won. Nic Brown was stellar in goal as he played all 60 minutes and recorded 17 saves in the loss. 

Conklin finished with three goals and an assist four four points and Micah Brooks had a goal and two helpers for three points. McDaniel caused seven turnovers as a team and Conklin scooped a team-high five ground balls. Jason Heeley won just 9-of-21 draws while Jacob Katzen and Casey Hammond split the game in goal. Katzen gave up six goals on 13 shots and Hammond surrendered two on eight shots.