The Oglethorpe men's lacrosse team improved to 3-1 on the season Saturday afternoon with a 15-7 victory over the visiting Centenary (Louisiana) Gentlemen. It marked the second straight season in which the team started 3-1 as they led by as many as 10 goals en route to the victory.

The Stormy Petrels opened the scoring with a marker from freshman midfielder Jeremiah James and then, after a Centenary goal, got goals from freshman attackman Jazz Washington and senior attackman Cam Ritter -- the latter coming off an assist from James -- to give themselves a 3-2 lead headed into the second quarter. The home side began to exert control from there. Sophomore attackman Andrew Collins and Washington quickly scored to give the Petrels a 5-2 lead, then senior middie Jack Brand and Ritter followed with consecutive goals to end the half. Ritter's came with the Petrels a man down and 5:26 left in the opening half of play, giving the Petrels a 7-3 lead. 

The Petrels really pushed their advantage in the third quarter, scoring four straight goals over the opening 7 minutes to build an 8-goal lead, 11-3, with 8 minutes left in the period. Freshman middie Alston Gill recorded his second goal of the period with 4:28 left and Ritter posted a man-up goal with 2:58 on the clock for his second marker of the period to give the Petrels a 13-4 lead. Oglethorpe pushed ahead 15-5 with 8:14 left in the contest, giving themselves their largest lead. The Gentlemen got a couple goals back, but couldn't get any closer than eight.

Ritter finished with four goals and 11 shots on target, scooping three ground balls in the process. Freshman middie Carsen Van Note led the team with 14 ground balls, while junior middie Brian Green added three caused turnovers and six ground balls. 

The Petrels won 21 of 24 faceoffs as Van Note went 12-for-12 and Brand 7-for-8. Oglethorpe outshot Centenary 34-14 on goal and outscooped the Gentlemen 51-36 in ground balls. They also forced 30 Centenary turnovers.

Oglethorpe gets back to action Wednesday night at 8 p.m. Eastern, when they head to Montgomery, Alabama, to take on Huntingdon. The Petrels will then continue their USA South road trip with a visit to North Carolina to take on Greensboro Saturday at 1 p.m.