The Misericordia University men's lacrosse team suffered a 15-4 loss to Messiah in the Cougars' conference opener at home Saturday. The Cougars fall to 2-4 (0-1 Freedom).

 

Seth Swiatkowski led the Cougars with two goals. Pat McTague and Lee Blair both added a goal and an assist in the loss.

 

Swiatkowski got the Cougars off to a 1-0 lead in the first period with a goal at 3:43, but the Falcons recovered quickly. Jeff Ziegler knotted the score for the Falcons at 3:08.

 

The Falcons took a lead early in the second period on a pair of goals from Phil Wendt and Pete Owens. The goals came with 30 seconds of each other and began to create a deficit that the Cougars would never overcome.

 

The Cougars were down 8-1 at halftime after surrendering another pair of rapid goals from the Falcons in the final 40 seconds of the half.

 

McTague scored at 9:40 in the third period to make it 9-2. In the fourth quarter, Blair scored with 7:22 to play to make it 14-4.

 

James Scott played the majority of the game at goal and earned the loss. He made 14 saves on 53 shots.

 

Wendt led the Falcons with four goals. Ziegler added three goals and two assists.

 

The Cougars return to action at  home Wednesday at 1 p.m. against Alvernia.