ALMA, Mich. – Albion College remained undefeated against its Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association rivals in men's lacrosse with a 6-5 come from behind victory over Alma College Thursday night.
Playing on consecutive days for the first time in the nine year history of the program, Albion had enough in the tank to overcome a 5-3 halftime deficit.
"We really had a big test today and playing back to back games is tough," Coach Jake DeCola said after Albion improved to 6-6 overall and 3-0 against MIAA rivals. "I know we were ready at the start. We were great in the ride and on the face-off, but we lost the ball on some pretty tough calls. In the end, we stopped their offense and found a way to win."
The Britons completed the comeback by holding Alma to seven shots in the second half, and only one of those was on goal. Alma had trouble transitioning the ball to its offensive zone in the fourth quarter, completing 4-of-9 clearing attempts. Evan Seurynck was credited with causing three turnovers in the fourth quarter, and four for the contest.
DeCola added midfielder Brandon Lebioda (two ground balls), defender Matt Lowes (three ground balls) and goalkeeper Trevor McManus (10 saves) were solid. Quinn Dobrzelewski won the face-off 62 percent of the time (8-of-13).
Albion converted 2-of-3 extra man opportunities, including a David DiRado strike 23 seconds after Austin Jordan took a knee for pushing early in the third quarter.
Alec Palmer scored Albion's final two goals. He pounced on the ground ball after Jacob Swift's shot was blocked and scored the equalizer with 10 minutes left in the third.
Palmer tacked on the game winner with two minutes left in regulation, taking the feed from Swift.
Thomas Hernandez and Brandon Lebioda scored Albion's first quarter goals. Scott Shepard tacked on a man up goal in the second.
Albion will pause to recognize the contributions of the 10 seniors in the program prior to its 1 o'clock face-off against Kalamazoo College at the Davis Athletic Complex on Saturday.