The Palm Beach Atlantic men's lacrosse were unable to knock off a top-15 opponent in Queens in their 2020 home opener, as the Royals defeated the Sailfish 16-9 at the Rinker Athletic Campus this afternoon. Both teams started out the first quarter slowly offensively, with both goalies keeping everything in front of them for the first 12 minutes of game action. The Sailfish were the first team to break through when Henry Sloyan and Hunter Hopman scored within two minutes to give the 'Fish a 2-0 lead. It appeared like PBA would take a lead into the second quarter to start their upset bid against the Royals, but Queens was able to score twice in the last 15 seconds of the quarter to tie the game 2-2. Unfortunately for the Sailfish, the Royals scoring run continued into the second quarter, as they ultimately scored ten straight to take control of the game with a 10-2 lead. Tyler Ewen scored three in the first half for the Royals, but the star of the game for Queens was faceoff man Drew Flack. Flack won 20-of-26 faceoffs and was the catalyst in the Royals second-quarter run as PBA was unable to gain possession of their own to halt the scoring run. Zach Holmes and Zack Figura were able to put an end to the scoring run with three minutes left in the half, but the 'Fish trailed 11-4 heading into the break. Queens outshot PBA 20-15 in the first half and Royals keeper Kyle Hornik made ten of his 14 saves in the first half. The Sailfish threw different bodies at Flack in the faceoff circle and freshman Noah Mckoeun had the best success for PBA. He was 6-of-16 and helped the 'Fish cut the deficit to as low as five, 13-8, with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. The first half scoring run by the Queens ended up being too much for the Sailfish attack to overcome as PBA was unable to find the back of the net in the final quarter of play. Hunter Hopman and Zack Figura led the offense for PBA with two goals each and Austin Evans dished out two assists. Defensively, Sailfish All-American Gunner Gebelein led the team in with eight ground balls and caused turnovers with five. Reigning SSC Defensive Player of the Week Lee Rowden made ten saves to keep the 'Fish within striking distance, but the 20-7 faceoff discrepancy was the ultimate decider for the 'Fish against a high-level ranked opponent. The Sailfish will get a week off before traveling to face Shorter on March 1 in Rome, Georgia. The Hawks are 0-3 so far on the early season.