BALTIMORE, Md. – Junior Greg Cuccinello posted his third career hat trick (4g), but No. 11 Johns Hopkins (2-0) used a decisive third quarter to earn a 15-8 win over Towson men's lacrosse (1-1) Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field.

After an even first half in which Hopkins took a 6-5 lead into the break, the Blue Jays outshot Towson 21-2 and outscored the Tigers 7-1 in the third quarter en route to the victory.

“We got into hole against a very good team that capitalizes on mistakes,” said Head Coach Shawn Nadelen. “We obviously have to be much better in a lot of different parts of the game.”

Sophomore goalie Tyler White recorded 18 saves. Senior Thomas DeNapoli stretched his points streak to 21 games with his assist at 12:20. Cuccinello's four goals tied his career high.

“I thought Tyler was seeing the ball pretty well,” continued Nadelen. “But we gave [Johns Hopkins] too many opportunities.”

Johns Hopkins took an early 2-0 lead at 8:37 in the first quarter after two goals from John Crawley. The Tigers got on the board at 5:59 when freshmen Joe Seider and Ryan Drenner connected on Seider's fourth goal of the season.

Hopkins took a 3-1 lead before Towson scored three straight goals to take a 4-3 lead at 12:20 in the second quarter. Junior Justin Mabus scored unassisted before classmate Cuccinello sent two blistering shots past the Blue Jays' goalkeeper at 13:01 and 12:20. He was assisted by Drenner and DeNapoli, respectively.

Cuccinello had the hot hand, scoring a hat trick at 6:01 in the second quarter, to make it 5-3 in favor of Towson, but Johns Hopkins bounced back with three straight goals to retake the lead, 6-5, at 6:30.

Senior Max Siskind scored from close range just 1:03 into the third quarter to tie the game at 6-6 before JHU put together a seven-goal run to put the game out of reach. The Tigers struggled to maintain possession on the offensive end, committing both unforced and caused turnovers.

“I thought we weren't as good as we needed to be on the individual side,” noted Nadelen. “They're [Hopkins] attack is probably as good as we're going to see in the country this year. We struggled with keeping constant pressure. There was some miscommunication going on.”

Sophomore Mike Lowe scored his first career goal at 11:33 in the fourth after he cleared the ball the length of the field to make it 13-7. Cuccinello capped the game with his fourth, off an assist from Seider as time expired.

The Tigers return to action on Wednesday, February 19 at No. 12 Loyola at 3 p.m. The game will be televised on the Patriot League Network.