ERIE, Pa. – The third-ranked Mercyhurst men's lacrosse team had nine different players find the back of the cage during an 11-goal opening quarter to build up an insurmountable lead as they dominated the visiting Alderson Broaddus University Battlers from the opening whistle in route to a 25-5 win on Saturday afternoon in Great Midwest Athletic Conference action.
 
Mercyhurst began their onslaught right from the opening faceoff as Shawn Doran collected the opening ground ball finding Caleb Kueber who hit Nathan Grenon for the 1-0 lead 15-seconds in.  Grenon quickly got his second 36-seconds later, followed by Kueber beating Battlers keeper Noah Christopher to make it 3-0 just over a minute in.  Two minutes later the margin was up to 6-0 thanks to markers from Jacob Emerson, Devin Pipher and Patrick Carrozzi with Pipher picking up assists on the other two goals.  Luke Ingianni made it 7-0 with 9:43 left in the first, before the scoring dried up for awhile, until Jared Butler recorded his first of the campaign at the 13:11 mark.  Colin Schmatz and Casey Scott added the other three goals in the period for the 11-0 lead.  Starting keeper Cole Pellicano had it easy as the visitors recorded two shots and did not force him into a stop. 
 
Jason Pawlak took over between the pipes to start the second and he was greeted quite rudely as Braxton Roman slipped the Battlers first shot on goal past him.  Pipher continued to add on to his assist lead by setting up Bryce Johnson and Kueber for goals 12 and 13.  The Pipher to Kueber connection struck again to make it 14-1 with nine minutes remaining in the half.  Scott netted an unassisted goal, followed by Pipher finding Quinn Simonson and Scott to extend the advantage to 17-1 with 3:30 to go.  Ingianni and Maguire Willard would each tally for their respective sides to send the game to the half at 18-2. 
 
Jay Shifflet started the third with a goal at the 1:54 mark by beating Brett Olney.  Ingianni completed his hat trick by ripping the net behind Camdin Edge with 12:12 to play in the quarter making it 19-3.  At the halfway point of the period Willard notched his second, before Schmatz, Kueber and Buter each scored in a 1:46 span to stretch the margin out to 22-4.  Shea Newell picked up his first point of the contest by setting up Scott for his sixth of the year to close out the third at 23-4. 
 
Brendan Eyestone became the fourth Laker to occupy the cage on the afternoon to start the final frame.  Tanner Delorme fired the first shot of the period past the keeper at the 53-second mark for the final visitor tally of the contest.  Benjamin Smith-Wilcox put the ball in the crosse of Schmatz who ripped a shot beyond the reach of the Battlers goalie with 6:46 to play.  The scoring for the afternoon would be completed with 33-ticks remaining when Nate Latshaw buried the rock for the first of his college career for the 25-5 final.
 
Team Stat Pack
Shot Attempts - Hurst, 55 / AB, 17 
Shots on Goal - Hurst, 42 / AB, 9
Clears - Hurst, 19-19 / AB, 20-28
Face Offs - Hurst, 32-33 / AB, 1-33
Ground Balls - Hurst, 59 / AB, 17
Turnovers - Hurst, 23 / AB, 22
Extra Man Opp. - Hurst, 0-0 / AB, 0-1

Mercyhurst Individual Stat Leaders
Points – Pipher (9), Kueber (6), Scott (5), Ingianni (4), Schmatz (3)
Goals – Scott (5), Kueber (4)
Assists – Pipher (8), Kueber (2)
Face Off – Doran (12-12), Columbus (9-9), Greenlese (6-6), Jobson (5-6)
Saves – Eyestone (3), Pawlak (1), Olney and Pellicano (0)

Alderson Broaddus Individual Stat Leaders
Goals – Willard (2)
Face Offs – Barnett (0-27), Russo (0-5), Roman (1-1)
Saves – Edge (11), Christopher (6) 

Postseason Outlook
With the win today the Lakers have assured themselves of the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Great Midwest Athletic Conference tournament and have made sure that the path to the NCAA Tournament will come through Saxon Stadium.

On Deck
The Lakers will have some time off after playing three times this week as they will not take the field again until next Saturday night at 7pm when they visit Lake Erie College for conference play.