CHESTER, Pa. – Needing a win to keep postseason aspirations alive, the Albright men's lacrosse team picked up a huge 7-4 victory over Widener on Tuesday night in MAC Commonwealth play thanks to a huge game in net from senior goalkeeper Ryan Aler.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 5-9 overall with a 3-4 record in MAC Commonwealth play. To make the MAC Commonwealth Tournament, the Lions must win Saturday against Lebanon Valley and get one loss from Arcadia in the final two games. Meanwhile, the Pride who have already clinched a MAC Commonwealth Tournament berth, falls to 6-9 overall with a 5-2 record in conference play.
 
The first quarter went scoreless, but not without each teams getting decent chances to break the scoreless tie. The Lions had a shot hit the post at the 12:02-mark, while Aler made back-to-back saves within a 30 second span at the eight minute mark. Albright found another shot hit the post at the 3:12-mark and Aler made two huge saves within nine seconds of each other in a crazy sequence during the final 30 seconds of the quarter. The Pride continued pressure in the opening minute of the second quarter after a faceoff win, and cashed in on a second chance opportunity to take a 1-0 lead at the 14:21-mark. A Lion turnover then helped the Pride extend its lead to 2-0 at the 11:57-mark of the second quarter. Sophomore Jack Bobel would finally get the Lions on the board at the 8:34-mark as they took advantage of a man-up situation thanks to a Widener penalty. The goal provided a huge spark for the Lions as they tallied two more goals within a minute of each other to take their first lead of the game at 3-2. Freshman Ethan Gain scored the Lions second goal before finding classmate John Gilbert for the go-ahead goal. Albright had some more chances in the final minutes of the second quarter and took its lead into halftime.
 
Widener continued to hammer Aler with shots to start the third quarter, but he continued to stand tall in net. Senior Nick Tonno scored the first goal for either team in the second half at the 8:01-mark to bring the Lions lead out to 4-2. However, the goal came at a price as Tonno was subsequently given a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct after the goal. The Pride used the man-up opportunity to its fullest as they scored 30 seconds into the minute penalty to cut the Lions lead down to 4-3. Albright was assessed two more penalties during the rest of the third quarter, and would kill both of them off. Freshman Brandon Hall ended the Pride's momentum at the 13:47-mark of the fourth quarter with a goal to once again give the Lions a two-goal advantage. Widener then struck back at the 11:40-mark to make it a one goal game again, but this time it was the Pride that got assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the goal. Much like Widener did before, the Lions cashed in on the man-up chance with Tonno scoring his second goal of the game at the 10:42-mark. The Pride pressed hard for the majority of the fourth quarter, but it was Aler again coming up with multiple huge saves to keep the Lions in the lead. Freshman Connor Graser then put the finishing touches on the Albright win with a goal to make it 7-4 with 2:07 left in the game.
 
The Pride heavily outshot the Lions 46-26 overall, but just 22-13 in shots on goal. Widener also held a 38-30 advantage in ground balls, while winning nine of the 13 face offs in the game. Tonno led the Lions with two goals and freshman James Gorman picked up two assists. Gain tallied two points on a goal and assist, while Gilbert, Hall, Graser, and Bobel all scored one goal. The star of the night was Aler with 18 saves on 22 shots faced on net to earn his biggest win of the season to date. Pride goalkeeper Matt Horton suffered the loss after making six saves.
 
The Lions will return to action on Saturday, April 28^th when they will host Lebanon Valley for Senior Day at 1 p.m.