Memphis - Rhodes College men's lacrosse defeated Muhlenberg College 12-10 Thursday afternoon. The Lynx hand the Mules, who earned votes in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, their first loss of the season (3-1). Rhodes improves to 5-1. 

Junior J.J. Hoots went on a 16-1 run on face-offs, helping the Lynx to a 12-4 lead with 14 minutes left in the game. Muhlenberg tried to make a comeback and scored the final six goals of the game to pull within two. Hoots finished the game with two new program records. He won 19-of-22 face-offs and scooped up 16 ground balls. In goal, Brendan Roberts made 14 saves for his first win of the season. 

Rhodes took advantage of a Muhlenberg penalty as Tyler Milwit scored the first goal on a man-up situation. The Lynx opened with a 5-1 first quarter before concluding the first half on a 3-2 run. Down a man, Roberts came up with a save when freshman Alexi Thomas served up Matt Perez for the man-down goal on a fast break. Rhodes led 8-3 at halftime. 

Addison Mueller got the Lynx rolling with two assists to start the third quarter. Rhodes finished the quarter with the game-winning goal by Thomas with 1:10 left. He scored his first career goal on an assist from Karl Van Blargan who finished the game with three goals for four points. David Perez finished scoring for the Lynx one minute into the fourth quarter as he also tallied a hat trick in the game. Matt Perez finished with two goals and two assists for four points.

Jams Dalimonte led Muhlenberg with five goals after scoring each of the first four goals for the Mules. Rhodes held the advantage in shots (40-36), ground balls (40-21) and face-offs (19-23). 

The Lynx fly out Friday night to take on Colorado College on Saturday at 1 p.m. MST.

*Lynx Notes: Tyler Milwit has scored seven goals this season. In the season opener, the second of his four goals elevated him to the second highest goal-scorer in Rhodes history.