March 29, 2008

Box Score

Orangeburg, N.Y. - The Mercyhurst men's lacrosse team held Dominican to one goal in the final 53 minutes of play as the Lakers got their first East Coast Conference win of the season with a 9-3 road victory Saturday. Mercyhurst battled back from an early 2-0 deficit and outscored Dominican 8-1 over the final three periods.

Dominican jumped out to a 2-0 lead behind goals from Pat O'Shea and Alex Jones in the first seven minutes of the contest. But Mercyhurst's Scott Sullivan scored the first of his two goals with 1:27 remaining in the first period to cut the deficit in half.

Mike Bartlett and Jones exchanged goals early in the second and Dominican led 3-2 before the Lakers reeled off the final seven goals of the contest. Mike Thon knotted the game at 3-3 just 56 seconds after Dominican had scored its final goal and Trevor Rice scored less than two minutes later to put Mercyhurst on top for good with 6:47 to play in the first half. Aaron Manzer added a goal on a Bartlett assist less than three minutes after that to put the Lakers on top 5-3 at the break.

Sullivan scored his second goal of the game, the only tally of the third period, to make it 6-3. Jordan Witt and Derek Pino posted fourth period goals and Chris Eline sealed the game on the final goal with 25 seconds remaining.

Mercyhurst outshot Dominican 27-18 for the game and Laker goalie Jason LaShomb made five saves. The Lakers finished with nine more ground balls than Dominican and was 13-of-14 on clear opportunities.

Rice finished with one goal and two assists for a team-high three points, while Sullivan and Bartlett had two points each.

Dominican falls to 3-3 on the year and 0-1 in ECC play as Mercyhurst improves to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in conference. The Lakers host ECC opponent Molloy Saturday at 1 p.m. for the team's home opener.