Greenville, S.C. – Carson Sorrells recorded a hat trick on Saturday afternoon to lead the Furman men's lacrosse team to a 19-4 win over the Hampton Pirates in its home opener at Paladin Stadium.

Furman improves to 1-1 on the season while Hampton drops to 0-2 overall.

"I was really pleased, not because of the score overall, but for our approach" said head coach Richie Meade. "In the first half we were very workmanlike and focused and didn't let the weather distract what we were doing. I think we had some great opportunities that we could have cashed in on but I was really proud of how the guys competed."

The Paladins had 12 different players score at least one goal in the contest highlighted by three from Sorrells. Brett Tenaglia, John Holcomb, Austin Leonard, Tucker Brown and Jack Dowd all scored two goals. Keegan Pearl dished out three assists to go with one goal. Anders Erickson also contributed two assists. In goal, Alec Van de Bovenkamp recorded six saves to earn the win while Andrew Jenet added two.

Michael Lawrence led the Pirates offensively with two goals and one assist. Pierce Johnson and Miles Fawcett both tallied one goal. Derian Williams-Sturdivant collected one assist. Kevin Mondy Jr. grabbed six saves and Paxtin Powell turned in five.

Furman opened the game scoring all six goals in the first quarter to hold a 6-0 lead. Birch scored all three of his goals in the period including the first two of the game to put the Paladins ahead 2-0. Pearl, Tenaglia and Austin Leonard compiled goals during a six-minute stretch as Furman built its lead out to 5-0. Birch's final goal with 52 seconds remaining ended the scoring for the Paladins.

Hampton got on the board to begin the second quarter when Fawcett made the score 6-1 with his goal at the 13:27 mark. Furman responded with three consecutive goals to close out the half as it took a 9-1 lead at intermission. Dowd, Tucker Brown and Cole Horan each scored once over the final eight minutes to extend the Paladins' lead to eight.

Furman continued its run into the second half, scoring all nine goals in the third quarter to push its lead to 18-1. Sorrells posted his hat trick during the period and was joined by Dowd, Tenaglia, John Holcomb twice, Cole O'Neill and McCain Wnek.

The Pirates recorded three of the four goals in the fourth quarter highlighted by back-to-back from Lawrence and Johnson over a stretch of 2:16 to cut their deficit down to 18-3. Jack Rooney answered for the Paladins just over a minute later with a goal as they took a 19-3 advantage. Lawrence's second goal with 4:04 left put the final score at 19-4.

Furman concluded the game holding a 67-19 advantage in shots and 44-30 in ground balls. The Paladins also forced Hampton into 36 turnovers.

Furman begins a three-game road trip next Saturday, February 15 traveling to Navy for a 12 p.m. matchup.