READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's lacrosse team suffered a heartbreaking loss in overtime to Shenadoah by a score of 9-8 in overtime on Wednesday afternoon at Shirk Stadium after the Hornets scored the game winner with three seconds left.
 
With the loss, the Lions drop to 1-2 on the season and lost in overtime for the first time since the 2015 season when they lost to Messiah on the road. It was Albright's first overtime game since they defeated Hood last April at home. Meanwhile, the Hornets of the Old Dominion Athletic conference (ODAC), improve to 2-2.
 
The teams offenses started slow in the first quarter before the Hornets finally broke the scoring at the 7:43-mark of the quarter to take a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Jack Bobel responded just under a minute later with his first goal of the season to tie the game at one. Shenandoah then responded with back-to-back goals over a long span of time to take a 3-1 lead at the 11:54-mark in the second quarter. Albright got its offense going in the second quarter as they ripped off four straight goals to take a 5-3 lead into halftime. Freshman Connor Graser got things going shortly after the third Hornets goal to make it 3-2 before classmate James Gorman tied the game at the 7:47-mark of the second. The Lions then used a pair of man-up advantage goals to take the lead as freshman Ethan Gain scored at the 7:06-mark, and senior Nick Tonno at the 2:23-mark.
 
Tonno started things off right for the Lions in the second half with his second goal of the game to make it 6-3 to give Albright five unanswered goals. The senior would then tally a hat trick just after a Shenandoah goal to make it 7-4 Lions at the 12:08-mark of the third quarter. Shenandoah responded by taking control of the game with five unanswered goals over the third and fourth periods to take an 8-7 lead at the 12:41-mark of the fourth quarter. The Hornets used a strong defense to hold the Lions without a goal for over a full quarter of play. Freshman Cole Hinds ended that streak with his first collegiate goal to tie the game at eight with 5:03 left in the fourth quarter. In overtime, the Lions had two great scoring chances to win the game that were both caught in the net by the Hornets goalkeeper. Ryan Schott would end the game with three seconds left in the first overtime as he worked around a Lions defender in the right side of the attacking area to get in front of the net to score.
 
The Hornets held a 36-30 shot advantage for the game, including a 4-2 advantage in overtime. Shenandoah also held a slight 38-37 advantage in ground balls, and forced 17 Lions turnovers. Albright held a 23-21 shot on goal advantage and forced 16 Hornet turnovers. The Lions also held a 12-8 advantage in the faceoff circle.
 
Tonno led the Lions with three goals, and Gorman posted a team-high four points behind one goal and three assists. Senior goalkeeper Ryan Aler suffered the tough-luck loss despite a valiant effort with 12 saves. Hornets goalkeeper Jason Simpson earned the win with 15 saves, and Michael Brooks tallied two goals along with Schott to lead the offense.
 
The Lions will return to action on Saturday, March 3^rd when they will travel to face Ursinus in non-conference action at 1 p.m.