LYNDON CENTER, Vt. - Johnson State College men's lacrosse earned an important North Atlantic Conference (NAC) road victory on Tuesday as the Badgers ran past Lyndon State College 11-5.  Johnson improves to 2-6, 1-4 NAC while the Hornets dip to 2-3, 2-4 NAC.

Senior Alex Petti (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) netted four goals on the day to go with a team-high seven groundballs while freshman Nash Garceau (North Haven, Conn./North Haven) added two goals to lead the Badger offense.  Senior Justin Nelson (Lakeville, Mass./Bishop Connolly) scored a goal and dealt out four assists while sophomore Matt Dekens (Johnson, Vt./Lamoille) added a goal and assist for JSC.  Senior Justin Connolly (Jeffersonville, Vt./Lamoille), junior Chandler Halbur (Wilmington, Vt./Twin Valley), and freshman Tyler Ask (Bristol, Vt./Mount Abraham) each recorded single scores.

LSC was led by Max Ercole and his three-goal effort while Robert Crupi and Teague Coyle each added a single score.

Johnson's Zach Jerome (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) made eight saves to earn the win in goal while his counterpart Matt Reynolds recorded 17 saves in the loss.

The Badgers earned a significant 43-24 shot advantage for the game to go along with a 29-23 edge in groundballs.

First period goals from Garceau and Petti gave Johnson an early 2-0 lead, a lead they would not surrender at any point during the contest.  The hosts would cut the margin to one at 3-2 following Coyle's goal but the Badgers responded with game's next six goals including a pair of man up goals.  For the game Johnson would get 16 man-up opportunities to Lyndon's five.

The Badgers would keep Lyndon at bay throughout the fourth period as they would answer Ercole's third score of the game early in the stanza which made the count 9-4 with scores from Halbur as well as Petti's fourth.

Johnson will return home for a pair of games this weekend with huge standings implications with the Thomas Terriers arriving in Johnson on Saturday for a 2:30 pm contest and then the University of Maine-Farmington on Sunday at 12 pm.  Lyndon will face off at New England College on Wednesday, April 18 at 4:00 pm.