READING, Pa. – In the first three overtime game in Albright Lions men's lacrosse program history, the Lions had a miraculous six-goal rally in regulation spoiled as Gwynedd Mercy prevailed 11-10 on Wednesday night at Shirk Stadium.
 
With the loss, the Lions drop to 0-5 on the season and the Griffins improve to 5-1.
 
The Griffins started hot as they registered the first goal of the game just 42 seconds in before making it 2-0 at the 13:03-mark. Albright quickly battled back as sophomore John Gilbert made it 2-1 on his first goal of the season at the 11:23-mark. Sophomore Ethan Gain then tied the score at two on an unassisted goal at the 6:52-mark. The Griffins responded with three unanswered goals over the span of 1:44 to go back up 5-2 at the 3:14-mark of the first quarter, but freshman Cole Genneken ended the run at the 12:42-mark of the second quarter to make it a 5-3 game. Gwynedd Mercy would then put together another multi-goal run to close out the first half as they scored four in a row to go up 9-3 at halftime.
 
The second half started slow offensively as both teams were unable to find the net for the first 10 minutes of the third quarter. Sophomore Carson Babcock then ended the scoring drought with his first goal of the game at the 5:04-mark to make it 9-4. After being shutout in the third quarter, the Griffins made it a 10-4 game with a goal at the 13:33-mark of the fourth quarter to seemingly put the game out of reach. However, the Lions had others idea as they began to put together a stunning rally. Freshman Alex McKendry started the rally with a goal at the 10:13-mark to make it 10-5, and would be followed just 41 seconds later by Genneken for his second goal of the game to make it 10-6 with 9:32 remaining in the fourth quarter. Gilbert would then net his second goal of the game at 8:29-mark to make it 10-7 after sophomore Alex Miller found him in front of the net. With momentum building, the Lions kept the rally going at the 3:26-mark as freshman Matt Schneider made it a two-goal game at 10-8 following a rush off a turnover. Babcock then made it a 10-9 game with his second goal of the game in a man-down situation with 1:33 left in the fourth quarter. The Lions would win the ensuing face off on a violation, and Gain would tie the game with 1:10 remaining on a shot from 15 yards from the net. The Lions had one last chance to win in regulation after freshman Gasperio Alessi won the ensuing face off, but Genneken had his shot saved by the Griffins goalkeeper.
 
Each team had a decent chance to win the game in the first overtime, but both shots would be saved by the respective goalkeepers. The teams then traded turnovers in the second overtime before a long possession from the Griffins ended with no goals despite having five shots. A crazy sequence with 15 seconds remaining gave the Lions a chance to win the game as junior Gordon Von Schmidt intercepted a Griffins pass and raced quickly into the offensive zone. However, Genneken then had his shot saved with two seconds left as he tried to squeeze the ball pas the Griffins goalkeeper on the left side of the cage. The Lions won the opening faceoff of the third overtime, but a turnover would hand Gwynedd Mercy back the ball for good as they scored at the 1:23-mark.
 
The Griffins held a 49-34 shot advantage for the game and a 30-17 advantage in shots on goal. Gwynedd Mercy also held a 45-34 advantage in ground balls and won 19 of the 27 face offs after winning 14 of the first 16 attempts in the first three quarters. Senior goalkeeper Conor Scafidi valiantly battled by making a career-high 19 saves in the full 70:34, while Griffin goalkeeper Aubron Swartley made seven saves in the full 70:34 of action.
 
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, March 20^th as they will travel to face Delaware Valley in non-conference action at 4 p.m.