READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions men's lacrosse team was unable to overcome a strong first quarter from Lebanon Valley as they fell by a score of 13-7 on a rainy afternoon at Shirk Stadium in MAC Commonwealth play.
 
With the loss, the Lions drop to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Dutchmen improve to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
 
The Dutchmen struck in the opening minute of the game to go up 1-0, which started a six-goal run to open the game. Lebanon Valley extended its lead to 2-0 at the 13:31-mark before going up 3-0 just over three minutes later. The Lions were unable to get their offense going early as they recorded its first shot of the game at the 7:58-mark. The Dutchmen capped their run with three more goals, two of which coming within 22 seconds of each other. Junior Cole Genneken snapped the run with a goal at the 2:51-mark of the first quarter to make it a 6-1 game. Lebanon Valley took advantage of a Lions turnover to make it a 7-1 game at the 11:31-mark of the second quarter before Genneken struck back just over a minute later to make it 7-2. The Dutchmen countered again to go up 8-2 with 8:43 left in the first half, but were unable to continue to pull away as junior Eric Broadway notched his first goal of the game at the 3:59-mark.
 
Albright began generating more chances in the second half as junior Alex McKendry ripped his first goal of the game past the Dutchmen goalkeeper to cut the deficit down to 8-4 at the 11:18-mark. McKendry kept his run going with his second-straight goal at the 8:40-mark to make it an 8-5 game. However, the Dutchmen snatched the building momentum just 1:30 later with a goal to go up 9-5. The Lions had two good chances to cut into the Dutchmen lead near the end of the third quarter, but both were saved by Dutchmen goalkeeper Nick Serrano. Lebanon Valley extended its lead to 10-5 at the 12:55-mark of the fourth quarter before extending it to 11-5 at the 9:30-mark. Senior John Gilbert sliced into the deficit with a goal off a deflected pass from Genneken to make it 11-6 at the 8:44-mark. Unfortunately for the Lions, Lebanon Valley once again had an answer as they went up 12-6 with 5:27 left in regulation. First-year Jon Alvarez tallied the final goal of the game for Albright at the 4:42-mark before the Dutchmen answered with one last goal of their own.
 
The Lions held a 41-33 shot advantage for the game after outshooting the Dutchmen 28-14 in the second half. Albright held a 25-19 edge in shots on goal, 14-10 in faceoffs, and a 43-37 mark in ground balls. Lions sophomore goalkeeper Liam Ferry suffered the loss after making six saves during the full 60 minutes, while Serrano earned the win with a valiant 18-save effort during the full time. Genneken led the Lions with four points behind two goals and two assists, while McKendry added two goals. Junior Jacob Cunningham led the Lions with a game-high 11 ground balls. Jake Bollinger and Michael Fisher each posted five points to lead the Dutchmen behind three goals and two assists.
 
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, March 31^st as they will travel to face Stevenson at 7 p.m.