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EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette men's lacrosse team tallied three of its five goals in the final quarter, but Army's faceoff prowess was too much for the Leopards on Saturday afternoon, dropping their Patriot League home opener by a 14-5 final.

The Black Knights had their way at the x, winning 17 of the game's 22 faceoffs. Dan Grabner was the leader with eight in his 10 opportunities, while Alex Daly grabbed 6-of-8 and John Ragno went 3-for-4.

"Army faced off really well and caused us to make some adjustments, but we never really got it going," head coach Jim Rogalski said. "They got a lot of ground balls and extra possessions, and I think that was a big part of getting out to that early lead."

Lafayette scored the first goal of the game as Matt Close finished a Connar Dehnert feed with 11 minutes to play in the opening quarter. However, the next five went Army's way and the game opened up as the first quarter closed with the Leopards trailing, 7-2.

The game produced more of the same in the second quarter as the stanza's only three goals all came off Army sticks to send it into the break at 10-2.

"I don't think we played well in the first half, but I thought we came out better in the second. With a young team and some young guys playing in key spots, that's what you're looking for. You want guys that respond to adversity and bounce back from making mistakes," Rogalski added. "I thought we panicked a little bit in certain clearing situations and just needed to calm down. We still have a lot of work to do, but I felt we settled down and executed much better in the second half."

The Black Knights added to their lead with the only goal of the third quarter 13 seconds into the second session, but the Leopards played strong in the fourth, matching Army with three goals for either side. Eric Joseph posted his second on a Conor Walters feed with 37 seconds to play to push the final under a 10-goal margin, 14-5.

Senior Ben Falcone continued to be solid between the pipes as he made 13 saves under constant pressure for 60 minutes. Falcone faced 53 shots on the afternoon, with his record falling to 1-3 on the year.

Shots were 53-23 in favor of Army, and the visitors held the advantage in ground balls (40-31) and turnovers (16-19). Lafayette's extra-man units were a bright spot as the offense went 1-for-2 in its man-up situations and the defense held Army scoreless in five man-down chances.

Lafayette will have to bounce back quickly as it hits the road for a non-conference contest with Penn on Tuesday. Opening faceoff in Philadelphia is set for 4 p.m.