ALBION, Mich. – The Alma College men's lacrosse team wrapped up their 2023 season on Friday, April 28th, at Albion College. The Scots were defeated in their final game of the season by a final score of 28-8.

The Britons got on the board first while scoring the first five of the game to carry an early 5-0 lead. Ezra Leppanen found the back of the net first for the Scots to slow down the Albion offense. The Britons high-powered offense kept pushing as they added four more goals before the end of the first to take a 9-1 lead before Alma scored the final goal of the quarter with under 30 seconds left. Byron Weber won a faceoff following a Briton goal and took it from the center line to the crease as he scored to make the score 9-2. 

In the second, Albion tallied two early on to again increase their lead. Haden Johnson put a damper onto the Britons offense for a moment as he sent a shot past the goalkeeper for Alma's third of the game. Again, the Scots would score the final goal of the quarter, with weber scoring his second of the game before halftime. Heading into half, the Scots trailed the Britons, 15-4.

Albion came out of the half and continued to put pressure on the Scots defense as they tallied several more goals before Alma added one of their own. Drew Gulick recorded the first goal of the second half for the Scots with nine minutes still to play in the quarter. Anar Tumurbaatar joined in on the offense with a goal of his own with six minutes remaining in the third, which would be the last goal of the third for both teams. Alma trailed heading into the final frame, 22-6.

After two quick Albion goals to start the fourth, Weber was able to find Johnson for a shot on the net that snuck behind the keeper and gave Alma their first of two in the fourth. Several minutes later, Tumurbaatar collected an assist on a pass to Weber who found the back of the net with his shot to bring Alma to eight goals, though that's as many as they would record for the night. The Britons would end up defeating the Scots and take the outright MIAA regular season title with their win.

Weber led the offense with a hat-trick and one assist for a toral of four points. Ryan O'Loughlin and Dylan Smith both collected five ground balls on the night to tie for the team-high. Kevin Koenn, Joey Allen, and Leppanen each recorded tow caused turnovers in the game which also tied for the team lead. Thomas Burns started the game between the pipes and played a full 60 minutes where he recorded 24 saves.

The Scots have now concluded their season and will look to next year to improve on their finish and while welcoming new faces to the team. The Scots will graduate 13 seniors and wish them the best with their future endeavors. 

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Story Credit: Eli Pinter, Sports Information Intern