Philadelphia, Pa. - Mercyhurst men's lacrosse saw their season end in defeat at the hands of Lenoir-Rhyne in the NCAA DII National Championship Sunday afternoon. The Lakers fought hard inside Lincoln Memorial Stadium but an early deficit ended up resulting in a 20-5 loss, ending their season with a record of 16-3.

How It Happened

Lenoir-Rhyne fired the opening salvo with a goal within the first two minutes of the game to take a 1-0 lead before adding on with their second in the opening five minutes of the game. They did not slow down from there, growing their lead to 5-0 with just under six minutes to go in the opening quarter. Goaltender Brett Olney did his part in minimizing the deficit with six saves in the period with two coming late.

Mercyhurst managed to crack the scoreboard to begin the second frame. Quinn Simonson scored off the assist from Jeremi Phoenix-Lefebvre within the first minute and a half of the second period, giving the Lakers some life. The Bears, however, continued to control the game as they scored eight unanswered second-quarter goals to take a 14-1 lead into the locker room.

Just like the second period, Mercyhurst managed to score first with Nicholas Mabe getting the goal to kick off the second half.

That started a scoring onslaught for the Lakers in which they scored four goals in six minutes, making it a 15-5 game with just over eight minutes in the third when a Mercyhurst timeout was called. Colin Tardif, Ethan Landymore, and Luke Ingianni all got in on the action for Merchurst as they looked to whittle down the deficit. Lenoir-Rhyne managed to compose themselves, though, scoring four goals in the third to take an 18-5 lead into the final 15 minutes of the contest.

Despite their best efforts, the Lakers were unable to pull off the comeback in the final frame. Their counterparts scored twice over the final 15 minutes of action, helping hand the Lakers their third loss of the season in the 20-5 final.

Highlights

Five different Lakers scored in the game with each of them scoring one goal apiece. Quinn Simonson, Ethan Landymore, Colin Tardif, and Luke Ingianni all had one goal while Nicholas Mabe had both a goal and an assist. Jeremi Phoenix-Lefebvre had the other of the team's dishes for his sixth of the year. Brett Olney added 16 saves to his ledger, totaling 196 for the season for the most in over a decade.