ROCHESTER, N.Y.-- The Mercyhurst men's lacrosse team was back in action on Saturday afternoon in a neutral site contest against the defending national champion and current No. 1 ranked Le Moyne Dolphins. The two teams battled back and forth all game, but it was the Dolphins who came out on top, 10-9.

The Lakers struck first as Todd Redman earned the first goal of the contest just 49 seconds into the first quarter. Le Moyne then rattled off three straight goals to take a 3-1 advantage before Mercyhurst's Myles Hamm cut the Laker deficit to one with eight seconds remaining in the first.

In the second quarter, both teams scored three goals a piece, none of which came consecutively as the teams battled back and forth into the halftime break. Ethan Landymore put two goals of his own into the back of the net while Nicholas Mabe had the other tally for the Lakers who trailed 6-5 entering the halftime break.

As the two teams began the third period, it was the Dolphins who scored first two minutes into the second half. Mercyhurst responded by scoring two goals of their own to tie the game up 7-7. The goals for the Lakers came from Hamm and FOS Shawn Doran, Doran's goal marked his first of the season. Le Moyne added a tally with five minutes remaining in the quarter to close out scoring in the third, and to take an 8-7 advantage with them into the games final quarter.

In the fourth frame, Le Moyne took a two goal advantage at the 13:12 mark of the period before Jacob Emerson connected on a shot to slash the Le Moyne lead to 9-8. The Dolphins would add one more score with eight minutes remaining that proved to be the difference maker. The Lakers attempted to make a late run as Landymore scored his third goal of the contest with three minutes and 21 seconds left, however it was not enough for the Lakers.

Next up for Mercyhurst is a home matchup with Molloy College next Friday on the turf of Saxon Stadium, the opening face off will take place at noon.