LEXINGTON, Va. - Scott Phinith (Gaithersburg, Md,/Magruder) dished out two assists to help Mount St. Mary's score four times in the second half en route to a 4-0 season-opening victory against VMI in non-conference men's soccer action on Tuesday.

Phinith, who scored twice in last year's 3-0 season-opening win against the Keydets, dished out a helper to Alex Kem (Germantown, Md./Watkins Mills) in the 77th minute and then handed out an assist on Ian Hendrie's (Potomac, Md./St. Andrew's Espiscopal School) tally in the 84th minute. Phinith and Eric Detzel (York, Pa./Central York) tied for the team lead in assists with six in 2008.

Kem posted his third career goal and Hendrie notched his second collegiate score for the Mount (1-0) while Detzel and Steve Pathroff (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Ignatius) also found the twine. Chris Davis (Townsville, Australia/Kirwan State) made four saves in the winning effort.

Brian Sowell turned away six shots for VMI (0-1) and Brian Harding recorded two shots in the loss.

Mount St. Mary's scored four times in the final 15 minutes and never looked back to earn its second-straight season-opening win against the Keydets. Last season, the Mountaineers scored three times in the first half against VMI in the inaugural game.

Kem handed Mount St. Mary's the lead it would not relinquish when he scored from eight-yards out off Phinith's assist at 76:27. Pathroff increased the advantage to two goals off a feed from Will Thomas (Mount Rainer, Md./The Heights) two minutes and 19 seconds later.

Phinith notched his second helper of the afternoon when he connected with Hendrie at the 83:07 mark and Detzel sealed the win when he converted a penalty kick with 24 seconds remaining for a 4-0 advantage.

VMI had several scoring chances in the match, but could not convert. Davis turned away from Harding (33rd minute) and David Rochow (43rd minute) in the first half and then the junior netminder stopped shots by Zach Morgan (47th minute) and Harding (60th minute) in the final frame. The Keydets did not register a shot in the final 30 minutes of the game.

Mount St. Mary's wins back-to-back season openers for the first time since 2002-03. The four goals scored in the game where the most scored in the inaugural match since defeating St. Peter's 4-0 in 2000 while the squad improved to 29-22-8 all-time in the season opener and 5-3-2 under head coach Rob Ryerson.

The Mount returns to action on Friday at No. 18 Loyola. Game time is 2 p.m.