The #4 Howard Community College (Howard) Dragons Men's lacrosse program secured a critical win Wednesday afternoon against the #6 and Maryland Junior College (MD JUCO) foe Harford Community College (Harford) Owls with a strong 2^nd half.
Haford came out in the first quarter looking to take control of the game scoring an early goal putting the Owls up 1-0 early.  Howard then answered quickly exchanging goals with Harford before it scored three unanswered goals to close out the first quarter with a 5-2 lead.
The second quarter was a back and forth battle between the two teams, with the Dragons and Owls exchanging goals.  Harford would get back one goal on Howard with the halftime score 10-8.
Entering the second half with only a 2 goal lead, Howard would come out in the 3^rd quarter making a statement and taking control of the game.  Sophomore standout Will Smith (Rockville, MD, Rockville) led the Dragons with 7 goals on the game and 4 of his goals came in the 3^rd quarter.  Behind smith Howard had a balanced attack showing just how hard it is to stop this attack.  Sophomore's Ian Decker (Orlando, FL, Dr. Phillips) and Chris Rinehart (Sykesville, MD, Century) both added 4 goals on the game.  Defensively, Howard shut the Owls attack down in the quarter allowing just 1 goal in the 15 minute period. 
Building off of the strong third quarter Howard put the game away in the 4^th quarter outscoring Harford 5-3, ending the game with a final score of 21-12.  Decker, Smith and Alex Stephanos (Ellicott City, MD, Howard) led the Dragons in assists each tallying 3 for the game.  In the net TJ Ellis (Mount Airy, MD, Oakdale) led the Dragons with 12 saves.
With the win the Dragons improve to 7-2, 3-0 on the season and hold onto the #1 seed in the region.  Howard will return to action on Saturday as they travel to the Community College of Baltimore County CCBC Essex. Faceoff is set for 1 PM.