After outscoring Lafayette 7-1 in the second half, the Army West Point men's lacrosse team defeated the Leopards 12-5 in the Patriot League opener. Ethan Barangan was excellent for the Black Knights on the faceoff, going 18-for-20 with a career-high 11 ground balls. Freshman attacker Brendan Nichtern set a new career-high with eight points on the day. He scored four goals and added four assists in the effort. Matt Manown and Nate Jones added four points apiece. Manown added a career-best eight ground balls in the contest. Johnny Surdick led the Cadets defensively with four caused turnovers. HOW IT HAPPENED For the fifth game in a row, the Black Knights scored the first goal of the game. Nichtern started the scoring efforts off an assist by Manown at 8:43 in the first quarter. The Leopards netted their first of the game five minutes later to tie the game. Army answered with two straight tallies to boast a 3-1 lead heading into the second. Jones posted back-to-back goals 29 seconds apart with assists coming from Sean O'Brien and Nichtern. Lafayette opened the second quarter with two consecutive scores to tie things up. The Cadets scored a pair of goals in a 42 second span to regain their lead. Manown posted his first of the game with help from Nichtern before a statement goal by Jones. With both teams scrambling for the ball in front of the Lafayette goal, Jeremy Angle picked up the loose ball from the scrum and dished it off to Jones who beat Ryan Ness for the goal. To close out the half, the Leopards brought it within one with 4:07 on the clock. Army went on a seven-goal run in the second half before the Leopards scored the final tally of the game. The Black Knights scoring streak began with Manown finding Nicholas Garofano for a score. Nichtern tallied an unassisted one-handed goal before assisted O'Brien for a man-down score. One minute later, Manown picked up a rebounded shot and scored on Ness in the unsettled offense. A flawless transition by the Black Knights set up goal number 10 when Kyle Beyer aided Nichtern. The Cadets converted their second man-up score this season when Nichtern conneted with Dreenan Greene. Nichtern was responsible for Army's last goal of the game with an assist from Jones. Lafayette notched goal four with eight seconds remaining. ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES Barangan had an amazing effort at the center x with a .900 face off efficiency. The freshman added a career-high 11 ground balls. Nichtern led the Black Knights in points for the third time this season. The freshman had four goals and added four helpers. Manown garnered a pair of tallies and a pair of assists for four points. This tied his career-high of four points. Manown registered a career-high eight ground balls in the game. Jones posted three goals to mark his eighth-career hat trick and added an assist. O'Brien netted a goal and added a helper, while picking up two ground balls. Garofano and Greene added one goal each. Angle and Beyer each had an assist in the contest. Surdick led the defense with four caused turnovers and five ground balls. Tom Rigney added four ground balls and a caused turnover. AJ Barretto earned the win with four saves. Matt Koziol stepped in net for the first time this season turning aside two shots. Army outshot Lafayette 51-30 and held an advantage in ground balls (48-33) and caused turnovers (11-8). UP NEXT The Black Knights travel to Lehigh next Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest.