The seventh-ranked Denison Big Red outscored St. Marys (Md.) 8-1 in the second and third quarters resulting in a 10-7 victory over the Seahawks from the Severn School in Annapolis, Md.

Junior middie Tanner Smith (Boxford, Mass./Brooks School) led the Denison scoring parade with three goals and two assists.  St. Mary's held a 2-1 lead into the second quarter until Smith broke a 15 minute scoreless drought with his fourth goal of the season.  That goal would spark two straight goals from sophomore attack Cory Couture (San Diego, Calif./Coronado) and a fourth goal of the second quarter from Alex Hardt (Dallas, Texas/Episcopal).

Thanks to the run early in the second quarter, DU took a 5-2 lead into halftime.  In the third quarter it was more of the same as Smith sent a shot past the Seahawk goalie for his second goal of the afternoon.  St. Mary's Ryan Alexander would halt the Denison scoring run temporarily when he scored his second goal of the contest.  Now leading 6-3 with 10:34 to play in the quarter, Denison's Connor Detjen (Winnetka, Ill./Loyola Academy) would win the ensuing face-off and seconds later Emmett Jones (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) would give his squad a four-goal lead with 10:07 to play.  Goals by Hardt and Smith would follow and Denison would take a 9-3 lead into the fourth quarter.

In that final frame the Seahawks refused to go quietly.  They would outscore the Big Red 4-1 in the quarter but DU would hold on for the three-goal victory.

This was the first contest for the Big Red in nearly two weeks and there were signs of rust.  DU outshot St. Mary's 50-28.  Twenty-one of their 50 shots were on-goal and Seahawk goalie Stu Wheeler played well, racking up 11 saves in 60 minutes.

Denison also won the ground ball battle 32-18 thanks to eight pick-ups by Detjen.  He also won 10 face-offs to lead the way.  Sophomore goalie Gregg Shannon (Lindenhurst, N.Y./St. Anthony's) posted eight saves while facing 28 shots from the Seahawks.

St. Mary's falls to 3-2 on the season while Denison improves to 3-0.  The Big Red will get another tough test on Saturday when they travel to Haverford, Pa. for a noon match-up with the No. 14 Fords.