ARNOLD, Md. – The No. 3 CCBC Essex men's lacrosse team defeated host Anne Arundel Community College, 23-5, in NJCAA Region 20 action at Siegert Field Wednesday evening.

AACC scored three goals in the fourth quarter, getting two unassisted tallies from John McElhenny, who assisted the other goal scored by Logan Wheeler. Sam Barrett scored twice for the Riverhawks, and Justin Sampson picked up an assist.

Ben Nyberg scored 14 goals for the Knights (6-2), and gave Essex a two-goal lead within the opening three minutes of the game. Barrett took advantage of a restart at the goal line to curl in and score an unassisted goal at the 9:44 mark.

Nyberg facilitated an 11-goal run by the Knights that Barrett halted with 2:47 left in the half on a transition goal set up by Sampson.

Essex outscored AACC, 5-0, in the third, but McElhenny opened the fourth with a man up goal after corralling a loose rebound on the crease's doorstep. After a four-goal Essex run, McElhenny struck again, this time after a long run on his own.  

Wheeler capped the scoring with a nifty behind the back set up by McElhenny with 32 seconds left in the game.

Trevor Murray returned to the faceoff dot, finishing with nine wins. Defenseman TJ Swann led the Riverhawks with eight groundballs after an effective night on the wing.

AACC keeper Parrish Fleming made 10 saves in 52:30 in the cage. Rocco Gargano finished out the game with one save.

The Riverhawks close out the regular season with a 5 p.m. home game against Howard Community College on Wednesday, April 17.