PAINESVILLE, Ohio. – The fourth-ranked Mercyhurst men's lacrosse team built up a 9-1 lead after 15-minutes and extended it to 15-1 at halftime en route to a convincing 25-5 victory in the regular season finale over Lake Erie College on Wednesday night at Jack Britt Memorial Stadium in Great Midwest Athletic Conference action.
 
Mercyhurst looked to take the lead just 31-seconds in as Nicholas MLECe fired a shot towards cage only to be turned aside by Lincoln Potter.  It would be the home team who struck first as Dawson Kindall beat Cole Pellicano for the 1-0 lead.  From that moment on it was all Lakers with Caleb Kueber setting up Pipher to tie the game.  Two minutes later Kueber buried the rock off a feed from MLECe.  That started a three-goal visitor run over a 34-second span Shawn Doran won consecutive faceoffs resulting in markers by Bryce Johnson and Pipher to make it 4-1 with 8:23 to go.  It would take till the 10:13 mark before Nathan Grenon scored his first of six on the night, followed by Kueber scoring 39-ticks later.  Payton Manko extended the advantage to 7-1, prior to Grenon netting two more for the 9-1 edge after one.
 
It took the Lakers eight shots before they dented Potter's cage again as Johnson cashed in a dish from Pipher at the 5:42 mark.  Gavin Ingalls made his way onto the scoresheet with 3:32 to play in the half when he found Kueber to make it 11-1.  Grenon beat Potter with an unassisted blast with 12:03 gone pushing the margin to 12-1.  In the final 84-seconds of the period the Green and Blue tallied three more times as Mike Wtulich, Benjamin Smith-Wilcox and Pipher each rippled the twine for the 15-1 halftime lead. 
 
A pushing penalty against Tyree Sewell led to a man-up goal by Grenon 1:14 into the third.  After a shot clock violation by the Storm gave the ball back to the Lakers Kueber made it 17-1, before Charles Greenlese won the ensuing draw and Todd Redman dispatched the rock into the cage.  A second long-pole found their name in the stats when Tommy Angelicola found Kueber for goal 19.  A faceoff win for Bo Columbus resulted in another visitors tally with Johnson stretching the gap to 20-1.  Lake Erie stopped the 20-0 Lakers charge with goals from Tommy Bichsel and Connor Dent.  Payton Manko capped the scoring in the third with 3:29 to play.
 
The first five minutes of the fourth quarter saw each team hit the net once as Timothy McMullen tallied for the Lakers.  Kueber netted his sixth of the night for the 23-4 advantage with less than seven minutes remaining.  Zach Lorenz and Grenon provided goals 24 and 25, before Neil Gardner got the last goal of the evening for the 25-5 final. 
 
Team Stat Pack
Shot Attempts - Hurst, 65 / LEC, 25 
Shots on Goal - Hurst, 47 / LEC, 18
Clears - Hurst, 6-7 / LEC, 15-21
Face Offs - Hurst, 31-34 / LEC, 3-34
Ground Balls - Hurst, 62 / LEC, 23
Turnovers - Hurst, 9 / LEC, 24
Extra Man Opp. - Hurst, 3-3 / LEC, 0-6

Mercyhurst Individual Stat Leaders
Points – Kueber (8), Grenon and Pipher (7), Johnson (6)
Goals – Grenon and Kueber (6), Johnson and Pipher (3), Manko (2)
Assists – Pipher (4), Johnson (3), Doran and Kueber (2)
Face Off – Doran (16-18), Columbus (8-8), Greenlese (3-4), Jobson (4-4)
Saves – Pellicano (13)

Lake Erie Individual Stat Leaders
Goals – Gardner (2)
Face Offs – Lofstead (1-15)
Saves – Potter (17), Kiebala (5) 

On Deck: Postseason Here We Come!
The Lakers have the top seed in the upcoming G-MAC Tournament and will welcome the fourth seed Lake Erie College to Saxon Stadium for one of the semifinals at 1pm on Wednesday.  The other semi will be between Seton Hill and Walsh the host of that game will be determined after the two teams face each other on Saturday.