ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings men's lacrosse team earned a hard-fought home victory on Saturday, defeating the visiting Kalamazoo Hornets by a score of 9-7.

The Vikings found themselves in an early hold after Kalamazoo notched the first three scores of the game within the first seven minutes of action. Brenson Brown got Augie on the board around the five-minute mark before both teams went scoreless the rest of the period. Brown's goal in the first was the beginning of five unanswered for the Vikings as the team grabbed the first four points of the second quarter. Brady Holtz sparked the outburst in the second, followed by a man-down score from Carson Ghys to tie the game at 3-3. Elijah Graesser and Ghys capped off the scoring run before the Hornets tallied their fourth goal of the game right before half. Augustana led Kalamazoo 5-4 after 30 minutes of action.

Following five minutes without a point to begin the second half, consecutive scores from Matteo Uccelli and Jake Moore gave the Vikings their largest lead of the game at the time. The two teams traded points to close out the third, with Augie getting another from Moore to make it an 8-5 contest in favor of the Vikings. 

Less than two minutes into the final frame, Ghys put the Vikings up four off on an assist from Grasser. The Hornets secured scores over the course of the next seven minutes to cut the deficit to two, but the Augie defense held strong the rest of the way, holding them scoreless for the final six minutes of the game. 

The Hornets out-shot the Vikings 46-41 in the contest, but Augie's defense was anchored by goalkeeper Gus Magnusson, who finished with a career-high 22 saves. Trevor Herman finished 15-20 in faceoff attempts for the Vikings, also grabbing a game-best 13 ground balls. Ghys led the offense with three goals and one assist.

With the victory, Augustana improves to 3-2 on the season. The team will hit the road for the next contest on Wednesday, March 22 when they take on the Dubuque Spartans. Start time is scheduled for 7 p.m.