CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Albright men's lacrosse team was unable to overcome a strong second half by DeSales as they fell 25-10 to the Bulldogs in their 2021 season opener on Saturday afternoon in MAC crossover play.
 
This was the first game in 360 days for the Albright men's Lacrosse team after their 19-1 win over Wesley on March 11^th, 2020.
 
The game began scoreless for the first 11:45 of the first quarter before the Bulldogs got on the board at the 3:15-mark following a Lions failed clear attempt. DeSales then took advantage of a man-up situation just 1:09 later to go up 2-0. Albright came out flying to start the second quarter as junior Cole Genneken recorded the first Lions goal of 2021 just 25 seconds in to make it 2-1. The Lions just needed 19 seconds to tie the game at two on a goal from junior Jacob Cunningham on a man-up opportunity. However, the tie was short-lived as the Bulldogs scored two goals in a 24 second span to take a 4-2 lead at the 13-minute mark. DeSales continued its goal run with its fifth goal of the game at the 11:33-mark of the second quarter before Genneken ended the run with his second tally of the contest just 49 seconds later, making it a 5-3 Bulldog lead. DeSales would counter again with two goals in a span of 31 seconds to extend its lead out to 7-3 at the 8:27-mark of the second quarter. Junior Eric Broadway notched his first goal of the season at the 4:42-mark on a man-up opportunity to cut the Bulldog lead down to 7-4, but DeSales took momentum into the half with a goal with just 24 seconds left to make it 8-4 after a Lions failed clear.
 
DeSales started the second half red-hot as they ripped off four goals in the first five minutes to take a commanding 12-4 lead at the 10:04-mark. Senior Connor Graser snapped the run with his first goal of the season at the 9:50-mark before being followed just over a minute later by classmate John Gilbert to make it a 12-6 game. Unfortunately they were unable to sustain any momentum as the Bulldogs closed the third quarter out with three-straight goals to take a 15-6. DeSales continued the goal run into the fourth quarter with seven-straight tallies to go up 22-6 with 4:53 left in regulation. The Lions snapped the run at the 3:40-mark with a goal by Gilbert which became the first of three goals in a span of 40 seconds. Genneken would tally the next two goals in the run and Gilbert notched one last goal with 58 seconds left in regulation.
 
The Bulldogs held a sizable 53-29 shot advantage for the game and a 42-21 mark in shots on goal. DeSales held a 53-42 advantage in ground balls along with a 21-17 mark in faceoff wins. Albright was forced into 36 turnovers in the loss. Sophomore goalkeeper Liam Ferry suffered the loss after making 14 saves in 51:47 minutes of action, while DeSales goalkeeper Quinten Lyons earned the win after making nine saves in 48:30 minutes of play. Genneken, the Lions leading scorer from a season ago, posted four goals and grabbed five ground balls. Gilbert finished with three goals while Cunnigham notched three points. Graser grabbed a career-high 11 ground balls and tallied four caused turnovers along with his one goal.  First-year Jon Alvarez dished out two assists in his collegiate debut.
 
The Lions will return to action on Saturday, March 13^th as they will host Misericordia at 1 p.m. in MAC Crossover play.