DALLAS, Pa. – The Albright men's lacrosse team was unable to overcome an opening seven-goal run in the first quarter as they fell 19-10 to Misericordia on Saturday afternoon in non-conference action.
 
With the loss, the Lions fall to 0-2 on the season as they begin a stretch of three-straight road contests. Meanwhile, the Cougars improved to 1-0 after their season opener.
 
The Cougars scored just 23 seconds into the game to make it 1-0 following the opening faceoff win, and would add to its lead just a 1:27 later on a goal following a failed Lions clear. Misericordia continued the run with three goals in a span of 1:21 to take a 5-0 lead at the 9:52-mark of the first quarter, and eventually capped it by making it 7-0 at the 5:02-mark. Sophomore Ryan Wilburn ended the run with a goal at the 3:52-mark, while classmate Carson Babcock made it a 7-2 game following a goal just 1:21 later. Misericordia tallied the last goal of the first quarter and would tally the first two goals of the second quarter to go up 10-2 at the 9:04-mark. Sophomore Ethan Gain posted his first goal of the game on a goal at the 8:18-mark to make it 10-3, but the Cougars countered yet again with back-to-back goals to go up 12-3 at the 6:51-mark. Babcock and Gain then responded with back-to-back unassisted goals to make it 12-5 with 5:15 left in the first half. Freshman Alex McKendry would score the first goal of his collegiate career with 47 seconds left in the half following a Cougars goal to make it 13-6. Unfortunately for the Lions, the Cougars scored just 11 seconds later following a faceoff to go up 14-6 at halftime.
 
Albright struggled on offense to begin the third quarter as they had just one shot in the first 12 minutes of action. This allowed Misericordia to open the lead back up again to 17-6 following a three-goal run. Babcock ended the run at the 2:16-mark of the third to make it 17-7, and would tally his fourth goal of the game with 12 seconds left in the quarter to make it 18-8 following a goal from the Cougars. Freshman Cole Genneken registered the first goal of his collegiate career at the 12:48-mark of the fourth quarter to make it 18-9 on a man-up opportunity. McKendry scored the Lions final goal of the day at the 4:18-mark before the Cougars tallied their last goal with 13 seconds left in the game to bring the final to 19-10.
 
Misericordia held a sizable 54-29 advantage in shots and a 34-15 advantage for shots on goal. The Cougars also held a 44-31 advantage in ground balls, and won 18 of the 32 total face-offs. The teams combined for 16 total penalties in the contest. Babcock registered a career-high four goals to lead the Lions, while Gain tallied four points behind two goals and two assists. McKendry added two goals and sophomores Alex Miller and John Gilbert each tallied an assist. Senior goalkeeper Conor Scafidi suffered the loss after making 15 saves in the full 60 minutes, while the Cougars used three goalkeepers on the day. Owen Rogers earned the win for the Cougars as he made three saves in 40:30.
 
The Lions will return to action on Wednesday, February 27^th as they will travel down to Virginia to face Shenandoah in non-conference action at 4 p.m.