ERIE, Pa. – The Mercyhurst Men's Lacrosse Team used a strong second half to propel them to victory on Saturday night over the visiting Seton Hill Griffins in what was a matchup of two GMAC schools in the top 20 national rankings.

The Griffins came out hot in the opening period by scoring four of the first five goals in the contest. After the Griffins went up 2-0, Ethan Landymore put back his first tally of the night for the Lakers to make it 2-1 before Seton Hill tacked on two more goals to lead 4-1 entering the second 15 minutes of action.

Landymore added his second of the game to start the second quarter to cut the Griffin lead in half before the Griffins scored three of the games next four goals. Stephen Katz scored for the Lakers in between the scoring run for Seton Hill.

The Lakers found themselves down 7-3 on the scoreboard with 10:49 remaining in the quarter and began to start a comeback. They went on to score the game's next three goals with marks from Todd Redman, Bryce Johnson, and Jacob Emerson to bring the score within one before Seton Hill's McGarity Harper broke up the Laker run at the 7:08 mark in the second quarter.

Redman and Landymore would score before and after another Griffin goal to put the halftime score at 9-8 in favor of Seton Hill.

In the third quarter, it was all Mercyhurst as the Lakers went on to open up the game and outscore the Griffins 7-3 in the quarter. The seven goals came via two different scoring runs for the Lakers, the first registered goals from Landymore, Johnson, and Braden McCard, and the second was a 4-0 scoring run with contributions from Johnson, McCard, Myles Hamm, and Nicholas Mabe. The score after 45 minutes of action would read 15-12 after the Griffins scored with 30 seconds remaining in the quarter. 

Seton Hill did manage to pull the score within one after scoring the opening two goals of the fourth quarter, however the Mercyhurst trio of Mabe, Hamm, and Emerson each provided a score in the quarter to keep the Lakers on top with the final score showing 18-16 in favor of the green and white.

Johnson finished the game with a team-high six points on three goals and three assists. Brett Olney made 14 saves for the Lakers in net and Derek Kohut and Gavin Farrell each recorded two ground balls for the Lakers.

Up next, Mercyhurst will be back in action Wednesday evening on the turf of Saxon stadium where they will host Roberts Wesleyan for another game under the lights.