With less than six minutes to go in Saturday's North Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse game, Northern Vermont University-Lyndon found themselves in a 9-9 standoff with NAC leading Thomas College. Unfortunately for the Hornets, the host Terriers errupted for five goals over the final 5:24 of the contest and came away with a 14-9 win. Thomas improves to 2-0 on the season, while Lyndon falls to 0-2. Both teams were strong defensively in the opening minutes. Thomas got the better of play in the opening quarter, outshooting the Hornets 14-4. However Hornet goalie Aaron Florence (Lutz, FL) turned away six straight Terrier shots ito keep the hosts at bay. Meanwhile the Hornets had a great opportunity to get on the board with just over four mintues to go in the quarter, but Anthony Townsend's (Pembroke, MA) shot hit the post. Thomas finally broke the ice at the 3:23 mark when the Terriers' Daniel Macwhinnie took a pass from Matthew Crisco and put it past Florence. William Heywood's man-up goal just seconds before the quarter ended made it 2-0, Thomas, after one. The Terriers' Max Irons picked up another man-up tally less than two minutes into the second quarter to extend the Thomas advantage to 3-0. The Hornets took advantage of a man-up opportunity themselves and got on the board at the 9:29 mark when Taner Onor (East Montpelier, VT) scored with an assist from Nash Nunn (West Danville, VT). The Hornets won the ensuing faceoff, and ten seconds later Townsend found Benjamin Cheever (Johnson, VT) and Cheever beat Thomas goalie Daniel Guarino to cut the Thomas lead to 3-2. With just under five minutes to go in the half the Hornets took advantage of another man-up opportunity. Edward McNeil (Washington, DC) found Luke Violante (Ambler, PA), and Violante scored to tie things at 3-3. That's where things stayed going into intermission. Lyndon carried a man-up advantage into the second half and wasted no time in capitalizing. After Patrick Buxton relieved Guarino in the Thomas goal at half, Cheever's unassisted goal just 21 seconds into the period gave the Hornet their first lead of the contest. Macwhinnie tied things when he took a pass from Irons and scored five minutes in. Thomas regained the lead four minutes later on Crisco's unassisted goal, but the Hornets promptly answered on Luc Parrett's (Eden Mills, VT) man-down tally. Thomas went back in front on on an unassisted goal from Macwhinnie, and quickly followed that up with Jakeb Weston's man-up goal. Lyndon again responded. With 1:34 to go in the quarter McNeil beat his defender and fired a shot past Buxton to cut the deficit back to one. Onor's unasisted goal a half a minute later tied things at 7-7 going into the final period. Onor gave the Hornets a one goal advantage with 12:25 remaining when his acrobatic over the shoulder shot found the back of the net. This time it was Thomas that answered quickly, as Heywood scored with an assist from Macwhinnie just seconds later. The Terriers regained the lead when Heywood score again at the 9:10 mark. However when Onor found Townsend in front of the goal and Townsend fired a shot past Buxton the game was tied for the sixth time. Macwhinnie put the Terriers in front for good when he converted a pass from Irons with 5:24 to go. Then Crisco scored off of the faceoff to give Thomas a little breathing room. The Terriers recorded three insurance goals in the final five minutes to come away with the win. Thomas outshot Lyndon, 57-30, for the game. The Terriers also held a 44-32 advantage on ground balls and controlled 16 of 25 faceoffs. Macwhinnie finished with five goals and Heywood added three for Thomas. Onor paced the Hornets with three scores and Cheever added a pair of goals. Florence stopped 18 of 32 shots while Guarino and Buxton each had one save in goal. The Hornets will go on the road again next Saturday when they travel to Husson University. Faceoff is set for 2:30 pm.