ERIE, Pa – The Mercyhurst Men's Lacrosse Team advanced themselves into the GMAC Championship Game on Wednesday afternoon by defeating the Walsh Cavaliers by a 20-11 score. The Lakers held Walsh to just three second half goals while Ethan Landymore scored four himself in the final 30 minutes of play to pace the Lakers.
Walsh began the contest with an early 4-1 lead after Tosh Pazuik tallied the Cavaliers fourth score in the games opening 11 minutes of action. The Lakers Head Coach Chris Ryan would call a timeout, to regroup with his team. From there the Lakers would rattle off five consecutive goals in just two minutes of game time. Landymore gave the Lakers a 5-4 lead with a strike at the 2:20 mark off a pass from Bryce Johnson. Jacob Emerson, Myles Hamm, Colin Schmatz, and Johnson would also contribute laker goals in the run as Mercyhurst found themselves back in front by a 6-4 margin. Walsh managed the tack on another at the end of the first courtesy of Evan Stertz, to trim the Laker lead to one.
Pazuik tied the game at 6-6 under a minute into the second quarter for the Cavaliers. Landymore and Walsh's Evan Bradley would follow by trading tallies before the Lakers ripped off a 4-1 scoring run to close out the quarter. It ended on a final second goal from Landymore after he received a full field pass from
Braden McCard for a highlight reel goal.
Jacob Emerson and
Myles Hamm scored during the run and
Josh Michel added a Laker goal at the 6:38 mark of the quarter. The scoring burst gave Mercyhurst an 11-8 lead at the halftime break.
The second half was dominated by the Lakers with Mercyhurst outscoring the Cavaliers 9-3 in the third and fourth quarters. Walsh managed to cut the Laker lead to two with the first score of the third quarter before the three headed attack of Landymore, Hamm, and Johnson all combined for six consecutive Laker scores to put them ahead 17-9 with 14:22 remaining to play.
Landymore added his NCAA Division II leading 67th goal of the season following a Walsh score. From there David Fiorini and Todd Redman would add scores for the green and white. The Lakers finished the game outshooting Walsh 44-18. They held a 28-5 advantage from the X with Shawn Doran winning 23 of 27 face offs. Brett Olney Earned the decision in net, posting seven saves.
The Lakers will now meet with the Seton Hill Griffins in Saturday's Championship match which will take place at noon on the turf of Saxon Stadium.
