On Wednesday afternoon, the Alma College Men's Lacrosse team continued their 2015 Spring Break trip with a game against Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C. for the second contest of new Head Coach Michael Kinney's tenure.

After winning a tight one-goal game on Monday, this time the tables were turned and the Scots gave up two late tallies to lose a tough 8-7 decision to the Monarchs.

With the loss, Alma is now 1-1 on the season, while Methodist improved to 2-1 in 2015. The Scots conclude their trip on Friday with a game at Berry College (GA) before the head back to Mid-Michigan.

Alma opened up the scoring just 51 seconds into the first quarter when Sr. M Alex Novak (South Holland, IL/Marian Catholic) scored on an assist from Fr. A/M Daniel Buchy (Springboro, OH/Springboro). After a Methodist goal,  Fr. D Austen Irrer (Midland/Midland) made it 2-1 Alma on an unassisted tally at 8:22. The Monarchs would score three in a row before the end of the first 15 minutes to take a 4-2 advantage after one quarter.

The Scots responded with three goals in a row by - Jr. M/A Marshall Argenta (Stafford, NY/Notre Dame) with an unassisted goal at 13:23, Irrer with an unassisted tally at 9:41 and then a goal by Buchy just eight seconds later, assisted by Fr. M Tanner Diment (Midland/Midland). However, the Monarchs would score before halftime to make it a 5-5 game at the break.

The second half proved to a bit tighter in terms of goals, but was extremely competitive throughout as these two even teams battled it out until the end. In the third quarter, the Monarchs made it 6-5 before the Scots tied it at 6-6 on a goal by Buchy, assisted by Argenta at the 6:32 mark.

Irrer nailed the hat trick with his third goal of the contest at the 6:59 mark of the fourth quarter, giving Alma the 7-6 advantage. However, you had the idea that the one goal would not be enough to hold off the Monarchs, and unfortunately that proved to be the case.

Methodist scored two goals just one minute apart (3:04 and 2:04) and took a 8-7 lead. A furious last two minutes and a valiant effort by the Scots came up short as the visitors dropped the tough one goal road loss.

Offensively, Sr. M Tyler Bennett (New Lothrop/New Lothrop) led all Alma players with four shots on goal, with Irrer next with three - Buchy led the team with seven total shots. Jr. GK Al Lesperance (Farmington/Farmington) recorded 10 saves on 18 shots in net for Alma.

The game against Berry on Friday is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.