TIFFIN, Ohio – The Alma College men's lacrosse team played a midweek matchup versus Muskingum University after the game had to be rescheduled. The game was played at Heidelberg University and came down to the last minute as the Scots were defeated by the Muskies to a final tune of 17-16.

Alma broke the ice and scored the first goal of the contest on a pass from Kendrick Rhines to Haden Johnson, who sent one passed the goalie to take a 1-0 lead. The Muskies responded with their own goal 11 seconds later to knot the game at ones. Alma responded and Johnson scored his second of the game on a pass from Anar Tumurbaatar as Alma regained the lead. Tumurbaatar was able to find the back of the net less than two minutes later as the Scots took a 3-1 lead. Muskingum added another score with four minutes remaining to bring themselves within one before Aaron Zettel winded up and found the twine about 40 seconds later to push the lead back to two. 

Alma entered the second half with a 4-2 lead. Alma found themselves with a man-up opportunity after the Muskies were caught offside and Johnson made them pay for it as he scored his third of the game increasing the Alma lead. Muskingum was able to respond with a goal of their own to hang within two scores once again before Alma was able to capitalize on another man-up opportunity. Kevin Koenn recorded his first point of the game on a goal that was assisted by Tumurbaatar putting Alma back up three. Ezra Leppanen also recorded his first of the game just a minute later and gave Alma a 7-3 lead before the Muskies scored two goals, bringing them within two goals once again. Johnson scored the last two goals of the half for Alma as he scored one with five minutes remaining before Muskingum answered back with 20 seconds remaining in the half. Johnson scored the next goal with just one second remaining in the half for a buzzer-beater, sending the Scots into halftime with a 9-6 lead.

The Scots came out of the half looking to increase their lead and try to push the Muskies back and slowly out of reach. Alma scored the first goal of the third just a minute in on an unassisted goal by Tumurbaatar to put the Scots in double-digits for goals. With another man-up opportunity, Alma once again capitalized, this time on a goal from Byron Weber on a good find by Johnson. The Muskies responded with a man-up goal of their own but Alma was able to respond quickly. Leppanen scored his second of the game following the Muskies goal which put Alma up 12-7. Muskingum then took control of the game for the next several minutes as they scored three goals in a minute to bring the score to 12-10 with eight minutes remaining in the third. Tumurbaatar added another to his game total with four minutes remaining to stretch the lead back to three before Muskingum responded with a minute remaining in the quarter. Weber tallied his second of the game with just 16 seconds remaining on a pass from Leppanen to push the Alma lead back to three and head into the fourth with a 14-11 lead.

The Scots had their fourth man-up opportunity in the start of the fourth quarter and again made Muskingum pay for their mistakes as Koenn scored his second of the game giving Alma a 100% man-up conversion to that point in the game. The Muskies hung around and battled back as they scored thee unanswered goals to reach within one of the Scots lead. Tumurbaatar was able to push it back to a tow goal lead again with just over four minutes remaining in the game. Muskingum was able to tie the game with just over a minute remaining in the game looking as if the game was heading into overtime. With 11 seconds remaining, the Muskies scored what was to be the game-winning goal as the Scots won the final faceoff but sent a shot wide as the time expired.

Johnson and Tumurbaatar led the way with six points each, Johnson recording five goals and an assist, while Tumurbaatar tallied four goals and two assists. Leppanen ended the game with three points to follow behind his teammates. Weber led the Scots with ten groundballs in the game and five Alma players each recorded a caused turnover. Thomas Burns started in the cage for Alma and recorded four saves in 37 minutes of action, while Garin Stearns came in for 23 minutes and recorded six saves.

Alma will now turn its attention to a weekend matchup with Augustana College (IL). The game is set for a 12:00 PM faceoff on the campus of Augustana.

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Story Credit: Eli Pinter, Sports Information Intern