READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's lacrosse could not overcome a slow start as they fell 12-6 to Widener in their MAC Commonwealth opener on Wednesday afternoon at Shirk Stadium.
 
With the loss, the Lions fall to 0-7 overall on the season and 0-1 in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Pride improve to 2-7 on the season along with a 1-0 record in MAC Commonwealth play.
 
The Lions could not get anything going in the opening minutes of the game which allowed the Pride to maintain a fair amount of offensive zone possession. Widener scored their first goal of the game at the 10:50-mark before tallying a second goal 58 seconds later to make it 2-0. Albright's defense kept the game at that score until the Pride tallied three goals within a span of 1:12 to take a 5-0 lead after the first quarter. Widener used two Lion turnovers and a faceoff win to tally the three-goal burst. Albright would tally its first shot of the game at the 12:11-mark of the second quarter, and would continue to play strong defense in the second quarter as they allowed just one Pride goal at the 1:54-mark on a man-up opportunity.
 
The Pride added a seventh-straight goal to go up 7-0 at the 10:05-mark of the third quarter before the Lions would respond with back-to-back goals within 10 seconds of each other to make it a 7-2 game. Sophomore John Gilbert tallied the first goal after classmate Carson Babcock found him on the left side of the net following a quick clear attempt. Babcock would then score his first goal of the game following a faceoff win on a violation after freshman Aiden Trainer-Mollenkopf found him in front of the net. Albright continued to rally as they made it a four-goal game at 7-3 after sophomore Ethan Gain tallied his first goal of the game at the 7:58-mark. Unfortunately, the Lions were unable to sustain momentum as the Pride made it an 8-3 game at the 3:37-mark of the third quarter. Gain would respond again with just 26 seconds left in the third quarter on a man-up situation to make it 8-4, but were unable to score again until late in the fourth quarter. Albright got back-to-back goals to make it 9-6 with 3:45 left in the fourth quarter from junior Ryan Wilburn and sophomore Shane Early before Widener closed the game with three-straight goals.
 
Widener held a sizable 45-25 shot advantage for the game, and a 26-16 advantage in shots on goal. The Pride held a slight 35-34 advantage in ground balls, and won 15 of the 22 face offs for the game. Gain led the Lions with two goals, while Babcock posted three points behind two assists and one goal. Freshman Alex McKendry also added an assist for the Lions. Albright senior goalkeeper Conor Scafidi suffered the loss after making 14 saves in the full 60 minutes of play. Scafidi has registered double-digit save totals in every game this season. Meanwhile, Pride goalkeeper Carter Landry earned the win after making 10 saves in the full 60 minutes.
 
The Lions will return to action on Saturday, March 30^th as they will travel to face Stevenson in MAC Commonwealth play at 7 p.m.