GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Mercyhurst University men's lacrosse team opened Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) play Saturday afternoon with a 10-8 loss at Seton Hill. The Lakers dropped to 2-4 overall and to 0-1 in conference play. Seton Hill improved to 5-1 and 1-0.

The Griffins scored three of the first quarter's four goals. Junior Erik Hultgren and senior Bryan Barnes sandwiched goals around Mercyhurst sophomore John Plaskey's fourth of the year while Griffins' senior Dylan Gelven tallied the quarter's final marker with under a minute left.

The Lakers closed to within 3-2 at halftime as senior Trevor Vargo cashed his 12th of the season, from junior Connor Enright, at 13:18.

Both teams scored three times in the third. The Lakers got back-to-back goals as sophomore Keyan McQueen registered his 9th of the campaign, from Vargo, and sophomore James Crowe cashed his 13th at 13:25 and 8:11 respectively to take their only lead of the contest at 4-3. But the Griffins stormed back and scored six of the next seven goals in a span that overlapped the fourth quarter. Sophomores Riley Martin and Drew Bossert scored within a minute, 5:23 and 4:30, to make it 5-4 Seton Hill. Vargo got his 14th of the season and second of the quarter, from sophomore Michael Poe at 2:27, before freshman Garret Howell scored with just four seconds left in the quarter to give Seton Hill a 6-5 lead heading to the fourth.

With momentum clearly on their side, the Griffins opened a 9-5 lead six minutes into the final period. Gelvin got his second of the game at 14:50 followed by goals from freshman Shane Pettke at 11:24 and sophomore Zack Rusch at 8:59. Plaskey scored his second of the contest for Mercyhurst, just four seconds later, and when Vargo followed suit at 5:47, Mercyhurst still had life.

But Gelvin scored his third of the game with 1:11 to play and Seton Hill allowed Plaskey's third of the game just a dozen seconds later to finish the scoring.

Seton Hill outshot Mercyhurst 33-29 and picked up 26 of 51 ground balls. Both teams were kept off the board with the extra attacker: the Lakers finished 0 for 2 while the Griffins failed in four attempts.

Mercyhurst goaltender Michael Grace was credited with eight saves while counterpart Brady Lawrence had 14.

Crowe now has 14 goals this season while Vargo has 13. Plaskey, who had scored three times before Saturday's game, now has six.

The Lakers will continue conference play next Saturday when they travel to Lindenwood (Mo.) for a 1:00 p.m. game.