BATH — Mt. Ararat used solid defense and ball control to earn a 9-3 victory over Cony in a Class B boys’ lacrosse prelim Wednesday at McMann Field.

No. 7 Mt. Ararat (7-6) will travel to Brunswick on Saturday for a quarterfinal at 1 p.m. against the No. 2 Dragons. The Rams end their season at 4-9.

The Eagles set the tempo early, punching in the game’s first goal 31 seconds into the contest. Ryan Mello found Connor Brown, and Brown’s shot beat Cony goalie Cam Gallant.

Following another Mt. Ararat goal, the 10th-seeded Rams got a Nic Mills goal with 5:09 left in the quarter. But Eli Schoenberg answered a couple minutes later, finding the back of the net off another Brown assist.

Schoenberg, a freshman, opened the second quarter with a pair of goals, including one where he picked up a loose ball in front and pushed it into an open net.

Cony’s Nick Robinson registered the next goal, unassisted, but two quick goals by the Eagles pushed the lead to 7-2.

“The tempo of the game played to our advantage,” Mt. Ararat Coach Matt Haskell said. “We had the slides and did a good job in transition. Neither team scored in transition; (it was) a lot of six-on-six scoring.”

Robinson and Mt. Ararat’s Jacob Sargent traded goals to close out the half, with the Eagles leading 8-3.

Both teams tightened up on defense in the second half.

“Our defense had to do something in the second half. We had to slow them down, as they were scoring quickly,” Cony Coach Chad Foye said. “When you do that, you need to transition well, and we didn’t do that.”

Mt. Ararat goalie Daniel Jackson made four of his eight saves in the third quarter to prevent Cony from cutting into its deficit.

“I like the six-on-six because I can see where everyone is,” Jackson said. “Our defense did really well today; we play well together and communicate a lot.”

Despite being outshot 7-6 in the third quarter, Mt. Ararat managed the only goal, from Matt Lawrence off a Brown pass.

“They’re good defensively,” Foye said. “Their defensive players kept up with our guys, so we really couldn’t beat anyone on a dodge. We tried to run plays, but we missed passes.

“It’s how it goes, it was a little bit of a combination of them being good and us not making the plays.”

Gallant finished with 16 saves for Cony.

“He’s put a lot of time into lacrosse, I’m relay proud of him, he did a great job today,” Foye said of his senior goalie.