St. Mary's City, Md. – A tough fourth quarter put the game out of reach for the No. 18 St. Mary's College of Maryland men's lacrosse team as the Seahawks dropped a 14-8 non-conference decision to Albright College in their home-opener Saturday afternoon.

Senior attackman Ben Love (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh) paced St. Mary's offense with his second hat trick of the season while junior midfielder Matt Tarrant (Mt. Airy, Md./Urbana) and first-year attackman Patrick Regan (Wilmington, N.C./Cape Fear Academy) each had two assists.

Albright (3-3) was not to be denied in the fourth quarter as the Lions exploded for seven goals to St. Mary's one to break open a 7-7 deadlock. AC outshot the Seahawks, 17-4, while the Lions won 8-of-9 face-offs in the final 15 minutes. Albright finished the game on a 5-0 run.

The Lions finished with a 40-32 margin in shots while St. Mary's edged them in ground balls, 35-34, as senior midfielder Cody Tidwell (Cordova, Md./South River) scooped up a team-best seven loose balls.

Senior Zack Blewett (Darnestown, Md./Heights) finished with 15 saves and two ground balls in 58 minutes while senior Jordan DiZenzo (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Liberty) picked up 12 saves for Albright's second straight win.

St. Mary's (3-5) owned a 2-1 lead after the first period as sophomore Nicholas Wilkinson (Huntingtown, Md./Calverton) and senior midfielder Gordy Long (Monkton, Md./St. Paul's) each found the back of the goal to erase the Lions' early advantage.

Albright notched the first two goals of the second quarter and both were off the stick of junior attackman Ryan Turner (Floral Park, N.Y./Long Island Lutheran). The Seahawks responded with three straight goals in the final 5:22 of the half, including a pair from Love, to boast a 5-3 lead at halftime.

Turner finished the game as Albright's leading scorer with three goals and an assist while juniors T.J. Holston (Gambrills, Md./Arundel) and Kyle McCabe (Quakertown, Pa./Pennridge) each had two goals and an assist. First-year midfielder Andrew Potter (Cortland, N.Y./Cortland) went 7-of-10 at the X while junior midfielder Darian Meador (Westminster, Md./Westminster) hustled to eight ground balls.

In the third stanza, sophomore attackman Matt Carney (Alexandria, Va./Potomac) stretched the SMCM lead to 6-3 at 11:12 with his first tally of the season. The Lions then rattled off four straight to gain a one-goal advantage at 7:16. Junior attackman Eric Simon (North Potomac, Md./Quince Orchard) evened the score at 7-7 with his third score of the season at 1:14.

The Seahawks will look to stop their three-game skid on Wednesday, March 26th as St. Mary's welcomes Wesley College to Seahawk Stadium for the Capital Athletic Conference opener at 4:00 p.m. 

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