THE FACTS
McDaniel (1-0) 12, Messiah (0-1) 8
What:  Non-conference men's lacrosse game
When: Wednesday, Feb. 23
Where: Westminster, Md.

THE SKINNY
McDaniel scored five straight goals in the second half to take a 9-6 lead midway through the fourth quarter en route to a 12-8 victory over Messiah in the season opener for both teams.

THE LEADERS
• Nick DeLoriers (Abingdon, Md./John Carroll) recorded two goals and four assists to lead the Green Terror.
• Dom Calderoni (Glen Cove, N.Y./North Shore) led the attack with a career-best four goals.
• Brighton Lorber (Lutherville, Md./Loyola Blakefield) made 14 saves to anchor the defenese.

FOR THE FOES
• Nathan Branson led the Falcons with three goals.
• Owen Joyce chipped in four assists.

THE REST OF THE STORY
• Dom Calderoni opened the scoring off a pass from Patrick Fegan (Edgewater, Md./South River) to take an early lead at the end of a man-up opportunity just 2:41 into the game. Owen Joyce found Seth Libby and Sam Stone 2:35 apart to turn the one-goal Messiah deficit into a one-goal lead. McDaniel responded, however, with three straight goals by three different players to take a 4-2 lead into the second quarter. Calderoni netted his second of the game before a Liam DeLorenzo (Allentown, Pa./Allentown) found the back of the net for the first time in his career off a feed from DeLoriers. Jason Heeley (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) won the ensuing faceoff and went right to goal for a 4-2 edge with 3:36 showing.
• The Falcons controlled the ball in the second quarter and Nathan Branson recorded a natural hat trick in the quarter, including finishing a pair from RJ Mellor to give the visitors a 5-4 edge at the break.
• Aaron Shaw stretched the advantage to 6-4 at the 11:01 mark before DeLoriers found DeLorenzo once again to ignite the game-changing run with 9:25 showing. Calderoni added back-to-back tallies, including a man-up finish rom Fegan and another finish cutting to the net from DeLoriers.
• Eric Manfredonia (Ramsey, N.J./Saint Joseph Regional) finished at the net off a pass from DeLorenzo to open the final quarter before Fegan followed with a goal of his own to push the lead to three. Shaw momentarily halted the momentum, scoring with 5:14 remaining but McDaniel responded again with Nick Wingo (Westminster, Md./Westminster) scoring his first of the season on a solo run and DeLoriers taking a pass from Calderoni to stretch the lead to 11-7 with 2:22 to play. Sam Stone answered by taking the faceoff and cloes the margin to three but DeLoriers put the game away off a feed from Fegan in the final 53 seconds.

THE INSIDE STORY
• The win was the first for first-year head coach T.C. DiBartolo at McDaniel.
• Messiah finished with a 39-35 edge in shots and 21-17 edge in ground balls. However, it was McDaniel with the edge in both categories in the decisive second half.
• Nick DeLoriers' four assists matched a career high.
• Jason Heeley won seven of the 13 faceoffs he took, leading the way in a .500 day at the X for the Green Terror. He also picked up four ground balls.
• Cameron Sedlack (Woodbine, Md./Glenelg) led the defense with two caused turnovers and two ground balls.

NEXT UP
McDaniel returns to action at St. Mary's (Md.) on Saturday. Game time is 1 p.m.