ERIE, Pa. – The top seeded Mercyhurst men's lacrosse team used a strong first quarter for the second game in a row to build up a 4-0 lead after 15-minutes and from there kept the visiting second seed Seton Hill University at bay the rest of the afternoon en route to an 11-7 win on Saturday afternoon at Saxon Stadium. With the win the Lakers earned their second consecutive Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship.
Mercyhurst wasted little time getting things going as they were off and running 55-seconds in as
Benjamin Smith-Wilcox beat Kevin Mo for the 1-0 lead. Both teams tested the respective goalkeepers, but
Cole Pellicano and Mo built brick walls inside their crease as things remained 1-0 over the next ten minutes.
Zach Lorenz finally found a way through with 4:07 to play, making it 2-0. The visitors had a couple of more chances to breakthrough, but Logan Maloni went wide and Ryan Manbeck rang the iron. It would be the Green and Blue who would hit the net once with
Jacob Emerson and
Bryce Johnson each tallying at before the horn to lead 4-0 after one.
The Lakers were under pressure in the beginning of the second as they were held shotless through the first 4:44. SHU got on the board for the first time on the afternoon through Manbeck at the 10:15 mark. Emerson recorded his second of the day off the ensuing faceoff win by
Shawn Doran, but the Griffins responded not long after with Jeremy Sforzo cashing in man-up. Mercyhurst would extend the lead to four at 6-2 when Lorenz buried the rock off a dish from
Nathan Grenon. After a turnover by Doran, the Lakers applied the pressure to the Griffins by getting into a 10-man ride which meant Pellicano had vacated the cage which allowed Mo to venture out to the midfield line and fire the ball into the empty net to make it 6-3. The Green and Blue added one more before the break with
Caleb Kueber beating Mo for the 7-3 advantage at halftime.
Mo turned away
Nicholas Mabe to start the third and was matched at the other end by Pellicano denying the attempt by Kage Williams. Mercyhurst captured their largest lead of the at the 2:14 mark when Johnson setup Kueber. Then, Thomas Hanulak went to work for the Griffs scoring twice in a 30-second span to cut the margin down to 8-5.
Timothy McMullen found himself on the scoresheet with an assist on Johnson's marker with 3:31 remaining to make it 9-5. The goals continued to pour in with each side scoring in an 11-second stretch with Peyton Gensler and Lorenz hitting the target leaving the score at 10-6. That looked to be the scoreline heading to the fourth, but Grenon had other thoughts beating Mo with just two ticks to go.
The final frame began with a Mercyhurst barrage as
Peyton Manko missed high twice, Kueber along with Smith-Wilcox were stopped by Mo and Mabe fired one off a defender in the opening five minutes. Mercyhurst continued to keep up the energy adding another three shots over the next five-minute segment. It would be the visitors who finally broke onto the scoreboard in the fourth thanks to Manbeck to pull within 11-7. Each team could only muster on attempt the rest of the way as the Lakers celebrated the title with the final horn.
Team Stat Pack
Shot Attempts - Hurst, 47 / SHU, 37
Shots on Goal - Hurst, 24 / SHU, 17
Clears - Hurst, 18-19 / SHU, 18-24
Face Offs - Hurst, 17-22 / SHU, 5-22
Ground Balls - Hurst, 24 / SHU, 14
Turnovers - Hurst, 13 / SHU, 15
Extra Man Opp. - Hurst, 1-7 / SHU, 2-5
Mercyhurst Individual Stat Leaders
Points – Johnson (4), Lorenz (3), Emerson, Grenon and Kueber (2)
Goals – Lorenz (3), Emerson, Johnson and Kueber (2), Grenon and Smith-Wilcox (1)
Assists – Johnson (2), Grenon, McMullen and Pipher (1)
Face Off – Doran (17-22)
Saves – Pellicano (10)
Seton Hill Individual Stat Leaders
Goals – Hanulak and Manbeck (2)
Face Offs – Gray (5-22)
Saves – Mo (13)
On Deck: NCAA Tournament!
The Lakers will now have to wait until tomorrow night's selection show to see who will await them in NCAA North Regional to play at Saxon Stadium starting next Friday. The show takes place at 7:30pm on NCAA.com.
