READING, Pa. – The Albright men's lacrosse team got off to a fast start on Saturday afternoon as they picked up their first win at home this season with a dominant 15-7 win over Alvernia in MAC Commonwealth play at Shirk Stadium.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 4-7 overall with a 2-2 record in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Golden Wolves are still seeking their first win of the season as they drop to 0-11 overall with a 0-5 record in conference play.
 
Following a scoreless five opening minutes, freshman Ethan Gain got the Lions on the board with a goal at the 9:50-mark of the first quarter after being set up with a pass from classmate Alex Miller. Gain would play a role in the next Lions goal just under two minutes later as he found classmate Carson Babcock, who scored to make it 2-0. Freshman Brandon Hall then extended the Lions lead just 47 seconds later to make it 3-0, and classmate James Gorman started his big points day with a goal at the 4:10-mark on a pass from senior JJ Boliaux. Freshman John Gilbert capped the Lions scoring with his first collegiate goal with 1:14 left in the first quarter in what would turn out to be a breakout day. Gilbert also started the scoring for the Lions in the second quarter after Gorman found him with shooting space to make it 6-0. The Golden Wolves fought back with back-to-back goals within a 1:12 of each other to make it 6-2 before Hinds ended the rally at the 6:38-mark following a caused turnover from Gorman. Alvernia scored at the 5:02-mark to cut the lions lead down to 7-3, but then Albright cashed in on a man-up advantage with seven seconds left in the quarter as Gilbert tallied his third goal of the first half.
 
With the first half belonging to the Lions, Alvernia made things interesting for a little in the third quarter as they scored the first two goals of the second half to cut the Lions lead down to 8-5 at the 10:09-mark. However, the Lions put the game away in the next three minutes as they scored five goals in a 1:47 span to make it 13-5. Gilbert added to his breakout day by scoring the first two goals in the run within 21 seconds of each other before senior Gerald Ringgold added the next goal following a ground ball pickup off the faceoff. Babcock would post his second goal of the day on a man-up opportunity at the 7:57-mark, and Hall scored his second of the day to cap the run at the 7:36-mark. Following an array of penalties, the Golden Wolves took advantage of a late quarter man-up opportunity to bring the score to 13-6 at the end of the third quarter. Gain would post his second goal of the day to open the fourth quarter, and freshman Dylan Perko concluded the scoring with his first collegiate goal with 3:32 left in the game following Alvernia's last goal of the day.
 
The Lions registered their most shots of the season as they outshot the Golden Wolves by a wide margin of 51-20, and 32-16 in shots on goal. Albright also held a sizable 52-27 margin in ground balls, and won 18 of the 25 face offs on the afternoon. Gorman paced the way with six points on five assists and one goal, while Gilbert scored a team-high five goals. Gain tallied three points on two goals and one assist, while Babcock and Hall each posted two goals in the win. Freshman Connor Graser also matched an Albright single-game record with six caused turnovers. The Lions used three goalies in the win as starting goalkeeper Ryan Aler made seven saves in 45 minutes of action, while freshman Michael Yukas and junior Conor Scafidi each made one save. Alvernia goalkeeper Jacob O'Donnell made 17 saves in the loss.
 
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, April 18^th when it travels to face Lycoming in MAC Commonwealth play at 3:30 p.m.