The Alma College Men's Lacrosse team opened up conference play on Tuesday, welcoming defending MIAA champion Adrian College to Bahlke Field for a game under the lights. The Scots would find themselves down 10-4 heading in to the fourth but would score five-unanswered goals to cut the deficit to just one with two minutes remaining. Despite the valiant effort and resilience, Alma would be unable to complete the comeback under the lights, falling to the Bulldogs 10-9 at home.

Our guys showed so much desire, commitment and love for each other tonight," said Alma Head Coach Michael Kinney. This was a great game, probably one of the the best in Alma College Lacrosse history."

"Who knows, we keep playing like we did tonight, we may get to see them again.  So we'll just keep focused on the next game. I would also like to give a special shoutout to the crowd, thank you to what sounded like 2,000 Alma strong tonight!"

With the loss, the Scots drop to 7-4 overall and are now 0-1 in conference play. The Bulldogs improve to 6-3 on the year and 1-0 in the MIAA with the victory.

The Bulldogs would get on the board first on Tuesday at 9:32, before Alma would answer less than ten seconds later with an unassisted goal by Fr. MF Tanner Diment (Midland/Midland).

With the score tied 1-1, Adrian would put up two-straight scores to take the 3-1 lead with just under seven minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Fr. D Austen Irrer (Midland/Midland) capped off the first quarter with a goal, bringing Alma within one at 3-2 after the first 15 minutes of action.

The Bulldogs would take control in the second quarter, scoring four-unanswered goals to take the 7-2 lead in to halftime.

Down but not out, the Scots started the third quarter with two goals - one by Jr. MF David Foster (Ann Arbor/Pioneer) on a man-up opportunity and another by Jr. MF/A Marshall Argenta (Stafford, NY/Notre Dame) off a Fr. A Quentin Ellis (Vernon, CT/Rockville) assist to cut the deficit to 7-4 at 11:54.

Adrian finished the third quarter with three-straight goals to extend the lead to 10-4 with just one quarter remaining.

So. MF Josh Sejat (Grand Rapids/Northview) found the back of the net to start the fourth, before Irrer would collect his second goal of the game to bring the score to 10-6 with just under nine minutes remaining in regulation.

At 6:00, Jr. MF Kyle Schnitzer (Aurora, CO/Smoky Hill) connected with TJ Miller for the Alma goal, cutting the deficit to just three at 10-7.

Sr. MF Tyler Bennett (New Lothrop/New Lothrop) would score on another assist by Ellis to bring the Scots within two and shift the momentum at Bahlke Field.

With just over two minutes to play, Sejat would take it himself to score Alma's fifth-straight goal and bring the home team within one at 10-9.

Despite having the momentum and the fans on their side, the Scots would be unable to complete the comeback, falling to the defending champions 10-9 at home.

Irrer and Sejat led Alma with two goals each, while Ellis dished out a team-high two assists. Diment chipped in with one goals and added a career-high 13 groundballs to go along with 16 faceoff wins.

In goal, Jr. GK Al Lesperance (Farmington/Farmington) snagged 12 saves on 22 shots to fall to 6-4 on the year.

The Scots won the groundball battle 41-30 and bested the Bulldogs in faceoff wins 17-6.

Alma continues league play on Wednesday, April 8, traveling to take on Trine University (IN) at 7:00 p.m.