MEADVILLE, Pa. -- The Allegheny College men's lacrosse team suffered its first setback of the young season on Saturday afternoon, as visiting Lycoming College defeated the Gators, 12-8, in the 2023 home opener at the Robertson Athletic Complex.

Although the Gators (2-1) scored first on a transition goal by JP Rakis (Kensington, Md./Walter Johnson) just over two minutes into the contest, the Warriors (1-3) pulled away for their first lead with four consecutive tallies. Allegheny erased the three-goal first-quarter deficit, as the Gators evened things at 4-all, but Lycoming took a 6-5 advantage into the locker room at the half.

The Warriors then distanced themselves by scoring thrice in the third quarter, all while shutting out the Allegheny offense for the first 17:20 of the second half.

For the game, Allegheny produced a successful 4-of-7 conversion rate on extra-man opportunities. However, the inability to take advantage of numerous full-time penalties in the second half prevented the Gators from repeating their epic comeback from the University of Mount Union matchup on Wednesday. Not only did Lycoming net two goals while playing a man short, but Allegheny was also held off the scoreboard during a two-minute flag against Lycoming's Joey Hoover at 11:01 in the third and again during a three-minute unreleasable infraction by Elijah Roselle at 10:42 in the fourth.

Inside the Box Score

• Most of the categories leaned in Allegheny's favor by a slight margin.
• The Gators had a 35-to-31 lead in shots, a 47-to-42 advantage in ground balls, and a 13-11 advantage in faceoff wins.
• Allegheny scored four man-up goals, while the Warriors finished 1-for-3 on extra-man opportunities.
• Gideon Sullivan (Getzville, N.Y./Cathedral (Ind.)) led all Gators with five points (4g-1a) and picked up five ground balls.
• Aidan D'Amato (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) had three assists, while both Nicholas Cimillo (Palm Harbor, Fla./East Lake) and Rakis ended with two points on one goal and one assist.
• Jack Cushwa (Martinsburg, W.Va./Martinsburg) and Benjamin Gallegos (Lafayette, Colo./Dawson School) also scored goals for the Gators.
• Faceoff specialist Ryan Therkorn (Falls Church, Va./George C. Marshall) and LSM Konrad Homiak (Hampstead, N.C./Topsail) shared the team lead with six ground balls apiece.
• Lycoming's Owen Zimmerman led all scorers with five goals.

News and Notes

• Allegheny's two-game win streak to open the 2023 season was snapped by Lycoming.
• The Warriors now lead the all-time series vs. AC, 2-0.
• D'Amato has three-or-more points in all three games to start his junior campaign.
• Sullivan's four goals and five points are a single-game season-high.

Up Next
Allegheny heads to Winchester, Virginia, on Wednesday, March 8, for a meeting against Shenandoah University at 4:00 p.m.