READING, Pa. – The Albright men's lacrosse team dropped a hard-fought 9-7 battle to Marywood on Saturday at Shirk Stadium to conclude their non-conference schedule.
 
Prior to the contest, the Lions honored the dedication and commitments of their 11 graduating seniors: Ryan Janowski, Aiden Trainer-Molenkopf, Terrell Ringgold, Alex McKendry, Shane Early, Cameron Glenn, Jacob Cunningham, Noah Marchiafava, Cole Genneken, Nathan Miller, and Gasperio Alessi.
 
With the loss, the Lions fall to 4-4 overall. Meanwhile the Pacers improve to 6-3.
 
Genneken led the Lions offense with four points behind two goals and two assists. Cunningham followed with two goals and five ground balls.
 
It was a back and forth battle to open the game as neither team was able to find the back of the net. The Lions finally broke through with an unassisted goal from Cunningham at the 4:00-mark. Marywood got on the board in the final minute of the opening frame with a goal to tie the game at one.
 
The Pacers took their first lead at the 9:54-mark of the second quarter. Genneken tied the game at two with an unassisted goal at the 6:29-mark. First-year Jack Burke put Albright back in front off a feed from Early with 3:36 left in the half. Junior Jay Shifflet notched a final unassisted goal for Albright with just over a minute remaining to close out the half with a 4-2 lead.
 
Marywood found the back of the net less than two minutes into the third stanza to open up the scoring in the second half and get within one of Albright. The Lions struggled to get one past Pacers goalkeeper Connor Reed, but Cunningham finally tucked one in the back of the net behind a Genneken assist to give the Lions a 5-3 advantage at the 7:07-mark. Genneken netted one more unassisted goal for the Lions to close out the third as the Lions held onto a 6-3 lead.
 
The Pacers controlled the pace in the final stanza as they posted back-to-back scores in the opening minute to get within one of the Lions. McKendry converted an extra man opportunity for Albright behind a Genneken feed to keep them in front 7-5 with 11:59 left to play. Marywood found the fuel they needed to close out the game as they notched four unanswered goals across a 2:54 time span to take a 9-7 lead with 5:29 remaining. Albright was unable to find the back of the net to cut their deficit as Reed complete two final saves to solidify the Pacers 9-7 non-conference victory.
 
Despite the loss, Albright held a 58-51 shot advantage and a 33-28 shot on goal advantage over Marywood.  The Lions also forced the Pacers into 21 turnovers. However, Marywood dominated in the faceoff circled 16-5 and held a slight 36-34 ground ball advantage. Reed had a big day in net for Marywood posting 26 saves in 60 minutes of action. First-year goalkeeper Ethan Hendershot receives the loss for Albright despite a season-high 19 saves in the full amount of action.
 
Albright will open up MAC Commonwealth action on Wednesday at 4 p.m. as they host Messiah at Shirk Stadium.