No. 9 Benedictine Men's Lacrosse handed first-year head coach Billy Dineen a convincing win over the University of St. Mary in his first game on the sidelines on Tuesday.

In a game that was originally scheduled for Thursday, but pushed up due to the forecasted cold blast that will hit the region on Thursday, the Ravens earned a shutout over the Spires 23-0.

The shutout was the first for the program since a 24-0 win over Morningside University on March 20, 2021.

Paul Gordon scored the first goal of the game 70 seconds in the game and set the tone for Benedictine. After the first quarter, their lead grew to 9-0, and by halftime that lead stood at 14-0. After scoring 3 goals in the third quarter, the Ravens bounced back with a 6-game fourth quarter to put the Spires away and match their 20-goal since scoring 20 against Missouri Baptist University on April 2 last season.

Brady Guck matched Gordon for high goal scorer with 4. Joseph Bianchi, Mac Postel Jr., and James Carson scored 3 goals each while Jordan Rodriguez and Joey Calabria added 2 goals each. Paker Bostock added a one-goal effort as Benedictine finished with 55 shots. 

Gordon, Postel Jr., and Calabria tallied 2 assists each. Zachary Torres, Guck, Rodriguez, Jac Couri, and James Withers tallied 1 assist each.

Defensively, the Ravens for the Spires into 34 turnovers recording 8 caused turnovers by 8 players. Jacob Clipperton and Jerry Dalrymple split time in goal with Cliipperton playing the first half with a second-quarter save. Dalrymple recorded two saves in the second half.

Max Thomason went 15 of 16 faceoffs while Bianchi went 10 of 11. The Ravens also finished at 11 of 13 on clear opportunities while holding USM to just 3 of 22. 

Benedictine is off until March 7 when they hit the road for a trip to Williamsburg, Ky., for a game with No. 3 University of Cumberlands that starts a three-game road swing. They make their return to campus on March 21 as they host (RV) Columbia (Mo.).