The Washington men’s lacrosse team, ranked eighth in Division III, outscored Muhlenberg 8-1 in the first and last quarters en route to handing the Mules their first loss of the season, 13-5.

Muhlenberg, which climbed out of an early hole in Wednesday’s win at Kings Point, trailed 6-1 four minutes into the second quarter. The Mules (3-1, 0-1) cut the margin to three on three separate occasions, the last coming on a goal by junior Mike Brown with 7:21 left in the third, making the score 8-5.

The Shoremen (5-1, 1-0) won the ensuing faceoff and scored just seven seconds later, and Muhlenberg would not find the back of the net again.

Senior Sean Toohill scored two goals, and junior Mickey Norton recorded a pair of assists. Sophomore Dan Dugan won six of 10 faceoffs and picked up five ground balls.

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Muhlenberg swept all nine matches against several opponents since that 9-0 shutout of Allentown in 1993, but from 1995 through last year scoring in men’s tennis matches was out of seven points, with the doubles counting for one point and each of the six singles contests for one.

“It puts a little more pressure on our doubles teams,” said senior Michael DiVita of the return to nine-point scoring this year. “But it’s nothing I don’t think we can handle.”

The Mules faced little they couldn’t handle in their 9-0 shutout of Penn State Berks, winning all matches decisively (all but one by 8-2 or better) in their first home match of the spring. Freshman Robbie Goldwein (left) won his No. 1 singles match, 8-0.

“This was a good warmup, and a good way to get some confidence in our playing ability,” commented DiVita, who won 8-2 at both No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles.

Muhlenberg hopes to carry that confidence into its Centennial Conference opener Tuesday against Haverford.

Click here for box score.