FREDERICK, Md. - James Weger (Shrewsbury, Pa. / Susquehannock) set a school record with seven caused turnovers as Hood College defeated the University of the District of Columbia in the program's first win over a Division II opponent, 8-4. 

Weger broke the previous record of six, held by himself and three other players. The junior also had four ground balls in the game.

Hood's  (2-4) offense wasted little time getting on the scoreboad, while the defense held UDC (1-4) scoreless in the first half. 

Randolph Clark (Chesapeake Beach, Md. / Northern) won the opening face off, scooped ground ball and went right down the middle for the score for a 1-0 lead seven seconds into the game. The Blazers (2-4) added a goal just 26 seconds before the end of the first quarter, when Sean Murphy (Chesapeake, Va. / Grassfield) took a feed from Alex Villegas (New Windsor, Md. / Francis Scott Key) for the 2-0 lead.

Clark's second goal accounted for all of the second period scoring, as his goal with 7:51 left sent Hood into the break up 3-0.

The Firebirds got on the board first in the second half on an own goal by Hood, but the Blazers scored the next five goals to pull away. Villegas found the back of the net with 12:15 to go in the third to stretch the lead to 4-1. Patrick O'Brien (Ridley, Pa. / Ridley) benefitted from an assist by Brett Humphreys (Newark, Del. / Sanford) at 6:58 and Nick Druelinger (Joppa, Md. / John Carroll) made it 6-1 with his goal at the 2:02 mark.

Druelinger scored again with 10:02 left in the fourth to open the scoring in the final quarter. Less than 30 seconds later, Tai Foster (Honolulu, Hawaii / Punahou) took advantage of a penalty by UDC and scored with an assist from Villegas for an 8-1 lead.

The Firebirds scored the final three goals of the game, but were unable to pull closer. After Micheal King scored with 8:41 remaining, Zach Kjeldsen assisted on goals by Matt Marrett and Luke Gillespie in the closing minutes to cap the scoring.

Both goalkeepers had strong showings. John Martin (Thornton, Pa. / Garnet Valley) had 16 saves in the win, while Tom Yancheski stopped 14 shots for the District of Columbia. 

Hood won 10-of-16 face offs in the game, including 9-of-12 by Clark. The junior midfielder scored twice and had eight ground balls. 

Villegas led all players with three points in the game and Druelinger had his first career multi-goal game. Jared Bileski (Waterloo, Ont. / Rockway Mennonite Collegiate) had six ground balls, while Domenic Cetrone (Odenton, Md. / Arundel) added five. 

The Blazers' man down unit killed all three man up opportunities for the Firebirds.

Gillespie went 5-of-10 on face offs for District of Columbia and had eight ground balls. In addition to his two assists, Kjeldsen had three caused turnovers and four ground balls.

Hood goes back on the road to face Bryn Athyn on March 22 at noon.