SELINSGROVE, Pa. - The Catholic men's lacrosse team won its second straight contest on Friday evening, defeating the Susquehanna River Hawks 16-9. The Cardinals improve to 3-6 on the season and 2-0 in Landmark Conference play with the win. 

Leading just 6-4 at halftime, Catholic used a 10-1 run in the second half to bust the game wide open before closing out a seven-goal win over the River Hawks. Fitz McLaughlin scored five goals while Victor Rosado added three goals and four assists for the Cardinals. Nic Pezone earned his third win of the season in goal, making nine saves and allowing just five goals. 

Catholic jumped ahead 2-0 early in the first as Collin Stein and Cooper DiCicco scored within nine seconds of each other. The River Hawks tied the contest before Rosado put Catholic back in the lead at the 3:52 mark in the first. Susquehanna tied the contest at 3-3 with just over a minute left in the quarter. 

Susquehanna took the lead in the second, but Catholic scored the final three goals of the period to lead it 6-4 at halftime. Rosado assisted on all three goals in the second as McLaughlin scored his first two of five goals to tie the game and put Catholic ahead 5-4 before Luke D'Ambrogi scored with 3:12 left in the half to put the Cardinals up 6-4. 

Jon Sax's team came out firing on all cylinders in the third, outscoring the River Hawks 5-0 to extend the lead to 11-4. Connor Pierce scored his first of two goals to push Catholic's lead to 7-4 while another goal from McLaughlin made it 8-4. Rosado extended the lead to 9-4 at the 10:08 mark of the third on a highlight reel goal. McLaughlin and Matt Shandley followed with two more goals to make it 11-4 after three. 

Susquehanna scored the first goal of the fourth before five more Catholic goals put the game away. Five different players scored in the fourth for Catholic as Shandley, Rosado, McLaughlin, Kevin Ortlieb, and Pierce all put the ball in the net for Catholic. The River Hawks scored four goals in the final 1:06 to make the final score a touch closer than it seemed. 

DiCicco had five ground balls to lead Catholic while Mike Tayloe forced three turnovers for the Cardinals. 

Catholic returns to action next Saturday when Juniata comes to town for a Landmark Conference tilt at 1 p.m.