Erie, Pa. – Senior
Aaron Manzer and junior
Tyler Burton scored two goals apiece and senior
Jason LaShomb made 12 saves, as the fifth-ranked Mercyhurst College men’s lacrosse team upset third-ranked and defending national champion New York Tech, 6-5, on senior day at Tullio Field.
With the victory, the Lakers finish the season at 11-3 overall and 4-2 in East Coast Conference play. The win also gives Mercyhurst a perfect 6-0 record at home and extends its home winning streak to 17 games.
Behind a strong defensive effort, the Lakers held the Bears to their lowest scoring output since a 7-5 setback to Le Moyne in the 2004 NCAA Semifinals. Both teams played to a 1-1 tie at the end of the first quarter. NYIT got on the board first when Rob LeGuen took a feed from Jeremy Hobson and ripped it past LaShomb at 9:33. Burton evened the slate exactly eight minutes later, scoring on an unassisted play at 1:33.
The Bears got their last lead of the game early in the second as Matt Messina found the back of the net at 14:07. Messina led all NYIT scorers with two goals.
Mercyhurst began to build momentum from that point, scoring back-to-back goals to build a 3-2 advantage heading into halftime. Manzer tickled the twine with his first of the game at 9:24 before sophomore
Cameron McLean struck off an assist from junior
Trevor Rice at 2:51. Rice finished the game with three helpers.
The Lakers continued to roll in the third quarter, shutting down the Bears offense and adding two more scores to take a 5-2 lead. Burton chipped in his second of the game and 24th of the season at 11:57 while Manzer converted a man-up opportunity at 9:20.
New York Tech looked to rally in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Lakers 3-1. Ryan Amengual pulled the Bears within two at 8:17, but an extra-man marker from senior
Mike Bartlett just 74 seconds later proved to be the difference, pushing the score to 6-3 with 7:03 left to play. Messina and Keith Henderson closed out the game with consecutive tallies at 5:00 and 2:36.
NYIT outshot Mercyhurst 36-35 and held a 28-27 edge in ground balls. William McGee suffered the loss in net for the Bears, stopping seven shots over a span of 60 minutes.
Mercyhurst will find out this Sunday if the Lakers are selected for the 2009 NCAA Division II Men’s Lacrosse Tournament live on CBS College Sports at 10 p.m. DirecTV subscribers can tune to channel 613 while DishNetwork customers can access the selection show via channel 152. Locally, TimeWarner Cable will carry the selection show on the designated CBS College Sports channel.