Before Saturday’s game against Navy, Maryland men’s lacrosse’s attack encountered a troubling trend in the late stages of games. In the fourth quarter of its first four contests, the offense had scored four goals total.

The late-game scoring droughts haven’t caught up to the Terps in their 4-0 start to the year, surviving scares against Richmond and Penn while jumping out to leads and sustaining them against Bucknell and Colgate.

But with a 10-8 lead entering the final period Saturday against in-state rival Navy, Maryland knew it would need a fourth-quarter burst to put the game away. During the final 15 minutes, the Terps leaned on their top-three attackmen: Jared Bernhardt, Louis Dubick and Logan Wisnauskas, who had been scoring at will all day.

“They’re slick sticks and they’ve got some outside threats too,” Navy coach Rick Sowell said. “We played a lot of defense and sooner or later it’s going to catch up to you.”

[Read more: Louis Dubick and Logan Wisnauskas power No. 3 Maryland lacrosse past Navy, 14-9]

Bernhardt, Dubick and Wisnauskas combined to score 11 goals, including all four of Maryland’s tallies in the fourth quarter.

Just over two minutes into the final quarter, Dubick found himself in a familiar place: open in front of the net. On each score during his career-high five-goal performance, Dubick found a soft spot in the defense and was on the receiving end of passes from teammates before converting his chances.

[Read more: “We’re hard-nosed guys”: Maryland lacrosse returned to its roots in win over Colgate]

Even when Maryland was attacking from behind the net, and Navy’s defense tried to congest the middle with their zone defense, Dubick carved out enough space to free himself.

“Lou’s instincts as a cutter are great, he’s got awesome hands,” coach John Tillman said. “And I think the guys look for him and they know if they throw him the ball, there’s a good chance something good is going to happen.”

Wisnauskas, who recorded a career-best five assists, tacked on another goal with a bouncing shot from the outside to finish a hat trick of his own.

Bernhardt completed the third Maryland hat trick of the day with a diving effort in front of goal, taking advantage of a new rule allowing players to go airborne horizontally across the crease. Bernhardt has showcased the skill on wrap-around attempts.

In all, the top-three attackers scored or assisted on 11 of the 14 goals against the Midshipmen.

When on the attacking end, Maryland brings in its offensive-minded midfielders to serve as additional scoring threats in that half of the field. Bubba Fairman is the leading contributor on the first midfield line, chipped in a goal and two assists against the Midshipmen.

Kyle Long, listed as an attackman, has seen time off the bench as a midfielder recently. As the freshman becomes more comfortable, he’s emerged as a strong distributor. In the last two games, he’s recorded three assists, one of which went to midfielder Russell Masci first career goal on Saturday.

After considerable offseason turnover in the attack, Saturday’s fourth-quarter performance was a promising sign for a team still integrating new contributors early in the year.

“Connor Kelly isn’t walking through the door, Tim Rotanz isn’t walking through the door,” Wisnauskas said. “We all play together, we all share the wealth, we all share the ball. We’re unselfish guys and we kind of just keep the ball flowing and then the goals will come.”