BIDDEFORD — In sports, 13 is often said to be an unlucky number.

That’s certainly been the case for foes of the University of New England men’s lacrosse team this season.

Senior defenseman Nick McMahon, who wears the No. 13 jersey for the Nor’easters, has been a one-man wrecking crew for opposing attackmen this season, causing an average of four turnovers a game so far this season, tied for the most of any player in all of NCAA Division III.

That’s helped the Nor’easters jump out of the gates to an 8-3 record, the best start in program history, as they’ve allowed fewer than 10 goals a game thus far.

“I think our defensive unit has really started to come together,” McMahon said, adding of his individual accomplishments, “It’s really just been my teammates helping me out. They always are getting ground balls and getting turnovers themselves.

“I’m really not sure what it is, there’s just something about this team that has made it a little easier for me.”

UNE coach Charlie Burch said McMahon’s gaudy numbers, which also include him being second on the team with 44 ground balls, were all the more impressive considering the players he’s asked to defend on a game-in, game-out basis.

“We usually try to assign him to what we call the other teams’ quarterback, the guy who handles the ball the most and is a scorer but also a feeder. Nick just makes the guy’s life miserable,” Burch said. “He’s all over them all the time ”“ the kid can’t get his hands free or even his head up because Nick’s quick and is all over him.

“It not only makes life difficult for that guy individually but messes up their whole offense.”

While he’s since become an indispensable part of the Nor’easters defense, when McMahon first stepped onto the University of New England campus, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever play lacrosse for the blue and white.

Having mainly been focused on hockey growing up in Westfield, Mass., McMahon only started playing lacrosse his junior year of high school, when he made the switch from baseball, and wasn’t recruited by any schools.

McMahon ended up attending UNE for its applied exercise science program, not the lacrosse team, but an email to then-coach Jon Hunt got McMahon a tryout.

The rest, as they say, is history. McMahon impressed enough to gain a spot on the team and played in all 17 matches for UNE the following spring, finishing third on the team with 20 caused turnovers.

The past three seasons he’s started every game but one, leading the Nor’easters with 50 caused turnovers his junior year, for which he earned All-Commonwealth Coast Conference Honorable Mention honors.

“I came here basically for the school,” he said. “I didn’t know where I would stand, and I just tried and got pretty lucky. I kind of fell into it more than anything.”

This year, McMahon’s game has had to take on an added dimension ”“ that of leader. The only returnee from the defensive core that last season included three seniors, he said leading by example has been his chosen method of marshaling in the new generation.

“I definitely enjoy being the senior leader back there and helping the other guys as the seniors before me did,” McMahon said. “I just try to be someone they can look up to, to work hard so they’ll work hard and see how it pays off.”

Selected as a captain before the season, Burch said McMahon has filled the role well.

“He’s been the glue for that unit,” Burch said. “They’re playing really well together now, but it took a little time in the beginning of the year, and he really had to oversee that growth of some young guys coming in.”

That growth will be key moving forward as the Nor’easters head into the meat of their schedule, including games with Endicott and Western New England ”“ two perennial contenders in the CCC ”“ in the next seven days.

McMahon, who in each of his previous three seasons has seen the team set the program-record for wins with six, eight and then 10 last year, said he thinks this year’s squad has the makeup to once again be best in program history.

“We came into the season with a different dynamic, a new head coach, a lot of younger players and something about people stepping up,” he said. “We really needed everyone to fill these roles or else this year was going to be a long year, and they have.

“I don’t know what it is, but this team’s got something special.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 323.