SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's lacrosse team opened their 2018 season on Saturday afternoon as they suffered an 11-4 loss to Swarthmore on the road in non-conference play.
 
The first three minutes of the first quarter went scoreless before three goals were scored in just under a two minute span. The Garnet opened the scoring at the 11:55-mark before the Lions responded 16 seconds later with a goal from senior Nick Tonno to tie the game at one. Swarthmore scored again a minute and a half later to start a run of six straight goals to give them a 7-1 lead at halftime.
 
Freshman Ethan Gain started the second half with the first goal of his collegiate career to make it 7-2 as the Lions were a man up. However, the Garnet responded with three more goals in the span of 1:25 to take a commanding 10-2 lead with 10:39 left in the third quarter. Freshman Carson Babcock would score the first goal of his collegiate career at the 3:49-mark of the third quarter to make it 10-3, and Tonno tallied his second goal of the game at the 4:50-mark of the fourth quarter. The Garnet then finished off the game just over a minute later for the final goal of the afternoon to make it 11-4.
 
The Garnet held a 35-28 shot advantage for the game and 20-16 advantage for shots on goal. Swarthmore held a slight 26-24 advantage in ground balls and a 10-9 advantage in face offs as well.
 
Tonno tallied two goals on the afternoon along with two ground balls. Gain and Babcock each tallied a goal, while classmate Connor Graser had a team-high five ground balls. Senior goalkeeper Ryan Aler made nine saves in the loss, while Garnet goalkeeper John Calia made 12 as he tallied the win.
 
The Lions will return to action on Wednesday, February 21^st as they will travel to face Marymount (Va.) for a 7 p.m. non-conference contest.