A strong beginning and a strong ending gave the Muhlenberg men's lacrosse team a big 10-8 win at Ursinus.

The victory was the third straight for the Mules (6-7, 3-2) heading into Saturday's game at nationally ranked Gettysburg.

Muhlenberg scored nine of its 10 goals in the first and fourth quarters. The Mules did allow the first two goals of the game and the last two, but for the bulk of the game – the middle 52 minutes – the defense was outstanding, letting in only four goals.

Senior Wyatt Malia and freshman Jack Bill each scored two goals, with Malia moving into second place on the program's all-time scoring list with 142 career points.

The Bears (6-6, 2-2) netted two goals in the first 1:32 before Muhlenberg responded with a flurry of four goals in less than six minutes, one each by Malia, freshman Chase Kusko, Bill and senior Ryan May, to take a 4-2 lead.

With time running out in the quarter, Bill fed junior Tyler Kitchen for a goal that gave the Mules a 5-3 lead.

Muhlenberg scored just one goal in the next two quarters, but Ursinus netted only three, and the teams headed into the fourth quarter tied at 6-6.

Once again the Mules scored four goals in short order, starting with Malia's goal at the 11:36 mark. Junior Andrew Sellitto and freshman Daniel Friedel and Liam Ledwith followed suit for four goals in a span of 4:34, giving Muhlenberg a 10-6 lead.

Ursinus tried to make it interesting by scoring twice and winning the faceoff after the second goal with 47.8 seconds remaining. But sophomore Luke Schwartzberg checked the ball out of the stick of a Bear player, junior Matthew Hochegger picked up the ground ball, and even though Ursinus got the ball back, senior Stephen Krug made his 10th save to keep the margin at two.

Schwartzberg picked up a career-high 7 ground balls to lead a defense that forced 23 turnovers. Junior Brendan Lavarra caused 4 turnovers and picked up 6 ground balls, while Hochegger scooped up 5 and senior Matthew McDonald 3.

Junior Griffin Minuto (pictured above) won 12 of 21 faceoffs.