ALBION, Mich.—The Trine men's lacrosse team dropped a 12-11 nail-biter game at Albion on Saturday afternoon.
The Britons took advantage of a strong fourth quarter to inch past the Thunder.
Trine moves to 7-4 overall and 3-2 against Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association opponents. Albion improves to 11-2 and is a perfect 5-0 in conference play.
The Thunder jumped out to a 2-0 start in the first quarter with Nick Maher (DeWitt, Mich./DeWitt) scoring two back-to-back unassisted goals. The Britons came within a goal when Brandon Lebioda scored off an assist by Jacob Swift with 4:40 remaining in the quarter.
Maher notched his third goal of the game to open the second off an assist by Conner Putnam (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield). Brandon Walters (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) scored an unassisted tally a little over a minute later to put Trine up 4-1. Albion added a goal from Zach Hubbelll before The Thunder went up by four with Putman and Daniel William Shine (Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech College Prep) scoring. Neil Orr (Lombard, Ill./Montini Catholic) earned the helper on Putman's goal. Kyle Camp brought Albion within three goals heading into halftime scoring with 1:01 left on the clock.
Eric Peal (Imperial, Moc./Sechman) scored at 10:52 of the third for the Thunder's sole goal of the quarter. Albion added two more goals to come within two.
Maher took advantage of an Albion penalty and scored while the Britons were a man down 31 seconds into the fourth. Putnam added his second a little under two minutes later. The Britons scored three unanswered goals to come within a goal once again, 9-8. Maher added his fifth goal of the game and Peal followed with each player recording an assist on the other's tally.
The Britons were down by two with two and a half minutes remaining in the game. Albion scored four unanswered goals to win the game including two with a man advantage.
Joseph Steigmeyer (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) moves to 4-2 in net with the loss making 15 saves.
Trevor McManus earned the win for Albion improving to 11-3 on the season. McManus made nine saves.
The Thunder returns home on April 25 when it will play host to Olivet. Face-off is at 6 p.m.