ALBION, MICH.  --  The Trine University men's lacrosse season came to end with a 20-7 loss against Albion (Mich.) College in a semifinal game of the 2018 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament.

Play resumed after being postponed yesterday (Friday, May. 2) with Albion (9-7) leading, 7-5, in the second quarter.  Prior to the delay, the Britons led by a goal after the first quarter with Albion's first marker coming at the 4:12 mark.  Less than two minutes later, Trine (10-6) netted the equalizer when sophomore Justin Gearig (Vicksburg, Mich./Vicksburg) found the back of the net with 2:26 to go in the period.  With under a minute to go, Albion regained the lead with a score with 47 seconds remaining en route to the 2-1 edge after the first 15 minutes.

Senior Nick Maher (DeWitt, Mich./DeWitt) got the scoring going in the second quarter with a goal just 26 seconds in to even the game at 2-2.  The two teams continued to swap leads with the Britons taking the lead again at the 10:55 mark before junior Eric Peal (Imperial, Mo./Seckman) tied the game at 3-3 with a man-up goal with just under 11 minutes to go in the half.  The Thunder scored two more times in the period with senior Jordan Lelito (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago) scoring at the 6:53 mark and junior Neil Orr (Lombard, Ill./Montini Catholic) scoring his first of two goals on the night with 2:12 to go on a man advantage.  But Albion tallied three more scores of its own before the end of the half to make it a 7-5 game at the intermission.

Following a goal by Albion to start the third quarter, Orr found the back of the net again on another man advantage at the 11:31 mark of the period.  The Britons then rattled off four straight scores with the last one coming with 1:21 to play and increased the margin to 12-6.  The Thunder gained a little momentum when the offense tallied its third "man-up" goal of the night, this time when junior Conner Putman (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) got a shot past the Albion netminder with just 43 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 12-7 heading into the fourth quarter.

The final period belonged to the home team as Albion took control by scoring eight unanswered goals for the only scoring in the period and claimed the 20-7 final to advance to the MIAA title game.

Maher led the team in overall points with a goal and assisted on two others for a total of three points.  Orr led the team in goals scored with two for two points.  Gearig tied Orr with a two-point night after scoring a goal and an assist each.  Peal, Putman and Lelito both finished with a point thanks to each scoring a goal and sophomore Tyler Klima (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) along with freshman Dave Keptner (Midland, Mich./H.H. Dow) rounded out the point scorers with an assist each.

In goal, sophomore Joseph Steigmeyer (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) played all 60 minutes, but would end up with the loss despite making 18 saves.  Keptner led all Trine players in ground balls with three.