The Elizabethtown College men’s lacrosse team lost their home opener against St. Mary’s College of Maryland on Feb. 10. The Blue Jays were able to put up seven points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Seahawks’ 12 points.

In the first eight minutes of the first period, the Seahawks scored three times on freshman goalie Ben Zaitz. With just ten seconds remaining in the first period, however, Etown put up their first point with an unassisted goal by junior midfielder Reese Levinson. 

Senior midfielder Brent Wehland brought the score of the game within a single point in the first five minutes of the second period with an assist from junior attack/midfielder Tristan Coleman. St. Mary’s would score twice more following Wehland’s goal.  

The Blue Jays would bring their score up to four by the end of the second period. Junior midfielder and attacker Casey Lamey had one goal unassisted, and Coleman scored another with an assist from Wehland. The score after the first half of the game would see St. Mary’s up by two at 6-4. 

St. Mary’s would dominate the third period, scoring five total goals, four consecutively. Etown would score twice, but it wouldn’t be enough to bring them close to their opponent. Junior attack Finn Kristan would score a goal unassisted, then assist senior midfielder Jay Rodriguez for Etown’s second goal of the period. 

In the fourth and final period of the game, each team would only score once. Levinson would score with under 10 minutes remaining, setting the Blue Jays back just four goals. However, with a goal shortly after from the Seahawks, Etown would eventually lose the match by five. 

The Etown men’s lacrosse team comes into this season as the conference runner-ups behind the University of Scranton. The Blue Jays beat Susquehanna University in the conference semifinals 12-8, but would fall to Scranton 6-10. 

They were able to finish last regular season 11-7, going 8-1 in the conference. However, they started the season 2-6 for their first eight games, so losing their first two games this season doesn’t put them out of the championship conversation. 

The Blue Jays lost star goalie Brayden Franey leading into this season, who is the Landmark Conference all-time saves leader. However, the team brought in two first-year goalies in Zaitz and Max Coady. Junior Christian Schrader returns to the team in goalie position as well. 

The team returns three all-conference second team players in Coleman, Levinson and senior midfielder Peter Pitrelli. The team will hope to bounce back with two upcoming home games versus Washington College and Swarthmore College.