The University of Mary Washington men's lacrosse team jumped out to a big early lead and held on for an 11-9 victory over Frostburg State University on Wednesday in the first round of the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament. The Eagles, now 9-7 on the season, will advance to the semifinals on Saturday at top-seeded Salisbury.

The Eagles opened the scoring less than a minute into the game, as Marson scored at 14:14 of the first. Sophomore Shane McKenzie upped the lead to 2-0 at 12:52 on a Miles Davis assist, before the Bobcats responded with a pair of scores to tie the game with 7:00 left in the opening stanza.

The Eagles then went on a run, scoring the next four goals in building a 6-2 advantage. Marson scored on a Davis assist with 5:40 left, and Jack Carver followed 41 seconds later on a Vince Smiroldo pass. Robert Tata closed the first with a goal with eight seconds left on a Drew Carlson assist.

In the second, McKenzie opened the scoring with 13:56 left, before Frostburg's Adam Gross scored his third of the day 1:04 later. The Eagles got hot again, scoring four straight, kicked off by a Davis score with 6:33 left. Noah Dewey followed at 4:19, and Tata scored with 2:33 on the clock. Carlson capped the spurt with a tally with 1:41 remaining. Frostburg found the nets with one second left, giving the Eagles a 10-4 halftime lead.

Both defenses stiffened in the third quarter, as UMW scored with 11:58 left on an Owen Dingman tally, and Frostburg followed with one at 2:08 as the only scoring in the frame. The Bobcats scored four unanswered in the fourth, including two in the final 1:23 to cut the final deficit to two.

The Eagles led in shots, 39-32, and ground balls, 36-28, while Eli Ayer won 18 of 23 faceoffs. UMW caused three key failed clears as well.

UMW will visit Salisbury University on Saturday in the CAC Semifinals. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m.