READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's lacrosse team mounted a late charge in the fourth quarter against Messiah, but were unable to overcome an earlier deficit as the Falcons won 12-8 in MAC Commonwealth play on Saturday afternoon.
 
With the loss, the Lions drop to 4-9 overall with a 2-4 record in MAC Commonwealth play that currently holds them in a three-way tie for the final playoff spot in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament with two games remaining. Meanwhile, the Falcons improve to 9-5 overall with a 6-1 record in conference play.
 
After six minutes of scoreless play to start the game, the Lions struck first with a goal at the 8:32-mark from freshman Cole Hinds. The Falcons then took advantage of a man-up opportunity at the 4:58-mark to tie the game at one. Albright put together a lengthy possession at the end of the first quarter which would set up a goal from freshman James Gorman with five seconds left in the first quarter to give the Lions a 2-1 lead after one. However, the Falcons took momentum right away from the Lions as they scored three straight goals within a 1:27 of each other to take a 4-2 lead. Two faceoff wins led to the first two Falcon goals in the run before the third one was set up from a turnover after the faceoff. Freshman Brandon Hall would cut into the Falcon lead at the 5:59-mark with a goal to make it 4-3 on a possession that lasted three and a half minutes. Messiah then took advantage of another Lions turnover and went back up two goals at 5-3 with 3:59 left in the first half, and took that lead into halftime.
 
The tide turned in the third quarter as the Falcons broke open the game with five unanswered goals during the period to take a 10-3 lead. Messiah scored their first goal of the third quarter at the 13:13-mark following a Lions turnover, and would strike again at the 10:33-mark just after a previous shot bounced off the post. The Falcons then added its last three goals of the quarter within a minute and a half of each other to take a seven goal lead. Messiah added a seventh straight goal just 16 seconds into the fourth quarter right off the opening faceoff win. Then the Lions came alive and dominated play for the majority of the fourth quarter. Freshman Ethan Gain struck back a minute later with a goal after he beat the Falcon goalie low to make it an 11-4 game before the Lions took advantage of a Falcon turnover to score and make it an 11-5 game at the 13:08-mark. Senior JJ Boliaux led a rush off a turnover and found Hinds for his second goal of the game. The run continued at the 12:07-mark when Gorman scored his second goal of the game by going top shelf to make it an 11-6 game. Hinds then finished his second hat trick of the season at the 8:17-mark with his third goal of the game to make it an 11-7 game. The Lions continued pressure but simply ran out of time to complete the comeback. Boliaux scored the Lions fifth straight goal at the 3:30-mark to make it 11-8 before the Falcons ended the comeback bid with a goal at the 1:43-mark of the fourth quarter.
 
The Falcons held a 40-24 shot advantage for the game, and a 19-11 advantage in shots on goal. Messiah held a 45-34 advantage in ground balls behind going 18-of-24 in the faceoff circle. Hinds led the Lions with three goals, while Gorman and Boliaux finished with three points each. Tonno, sophomore Jack Bobel, and freshman Alex Miller each tallied one assist, while Hall and Gain each tallied one goal. The Lions used three goalkeepers in the game as senior goalkeeper Ryan Aler suffered the loss after making seven saves and allowing 11 goals in 49:54 of action. Freshman Michael Yukas and junior Conor Scafidi each spilt time in the final 10 minutes of the game. Falcons goalkeeper Evan Stoker made three saves to earn the win.
 
Albright will return to action on Tuesday, April 24^th when it travels to face Widener in a pivotal MAC Commonwealth game at 7 p.m.