PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The #11 Mercyhurst University men's lacrosse team scored first on Saturday afternoon, but #6 Le Moyne scored in bunches and eventually turned back the Lakers, 9-5, in a game played at Growney Stadium on the campus of St. John Fisher. Mercyhurst lost for the second time in three contests while the Dolphins improved to 2-1.

Mercyhurst junior Cory Becker gave the Lakers the early advantage when he scored his 7th of the season, unassisted, just 40 seconds into the game. But Le Moyne retaliated with the next three, one with the extra-man, before sophomore Keyan McQueen drew the Lakers to within a goal with an unassisted marker with 3:13 left in the first. It was McQueen's 6th of the season.

McQueen tied things with his second of the game, also unassisted, early in the second. The Dolphins responded with the final three goals of the quarter to take a 6-3 lead at intermission. The Lakers outshot Le Moyne 18-13 in the first half but found themselves down three at the break.

Le Moyne stretched its lead to 7-3 midway in the third before Mercyhurst narrowed the gap to 7-5 with a man-up goal from sophomore James Crowe with 4:17 left in the third and Becker's second unassisted goal of the contest with 8:48 left in the game. The Dolphins scored twice in a span of 38 seconds later in the final quarter to conclude the scoring.

Crowe's goal was his 9th of the young season and was aided by junior Connor Enright.

The Lakers outshot the Dolphins 29-28 but Le Moyne had a 29-18 advantage in ground balls and outdistanced Mercyhurst 11-7 in face-offs, including a perfect 5 for 5 in the second quarter.

Le Moyne finished 1-of-4 with the extra-man while the Lakers were 1-of-2. There were 25 turnovers in the contest, 13 committed by Mercyhurst.

Graduate student Michael Grace (1-2) allowed eight goals and was credited with a dozen saves. Junior Matt Wells relieved Grace for 24 seconds in the first quarter – when Grace was assessed a delay-of-game penalty – and allowed the other goal. Alex Krawec (2-1) picked up the win while making 16 stops.

Mercyhurst will travel to the Sunshine State next week for a pair of games.  The Lakers will play Florida Southern at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, in Lakeland before visiting the University of Tampa Saturday, the 14th, also at 7:00 p.m. Tampa was the team that eliminated Mercyhurst from the NCAA playoffs last season.