BOSTON, Mass. - Men's lacrosse hosted NEWMAC rivals Clark on Saturday afternoon. With both teams eliminated from NEWMAC postseason contention, the game served as the finale to the two squads' respective seasons. The match-up proved to be a tight back-and-forth, with the largest lead of the game being a 5-3 Emerson advantage in the third quarter, but the Cougars outplayed their hosts in the second half to narrowly grab a 10-8 win.

The Lions finish their season with a 7-9 (2-5 NEWMAC) record, while Clark heads into the offseason at 5-10 (2-5 NEWMAC).

GAME SUMMARY
Emerson's Jack O'Rourke scored the first goal of the game and the only goal of the first quarter with some help from Alex Menendez. Clark struck back just at 13:48 in the second period. Nicholas Fulgione later reclaimed the lead for the Lions with some help from Aedan Kiniry at 7:08. Another Cougars goal with 6:32 remaining tied it back up at two, but Emerson went into halftime with a 3-2 lead thanks to Pierce Eldredge, who benefitted from a rare goalie assist from Malcolm McGrath.

Clark tied the game again at 12:07 in the third quarter, but Emerson later went up 5-3 after Birk Swam scored at 11:34 with some help from Menendez. Jack Burns later scored at 8:56 off an assist by Fulgione. Clark took those two goals back before Menendez scored off an assist from Swan at 4:29 to put the Lions back up one. The Cougars scored again in the final seconds to knot the score at six.

Menendez scored his second goal of the game with 12:54 on the clock to get the fourth quarter scoring started, but Clark evened things again at 11:02. O'Rourke put the Lions back up with an unassisted goal at 8:59 before the Cougars scored three and shut out their hosts for the rest of regulation.

Emerson was outshot by Clark, 62-34, which led to a career-high 25 saves for McGrath. The Lions also lost the ground ball battle, 30-15, and were outperformed in face-offs, 18-4. Emerson also committed 22 turnovers to the Cougars' nine.

Burns finished the season as the Lions' leader in goals scored, tallying 56 this season. Swan paced the team in assists, with 42, and combined that with 34 goals for a team-leading 76 points. John Marcone and Josh DeMattos were equally effective on defense, as both players earned credit for 17 caused turnovers. Quinn Gardner went 117-for-422 on face-offs for a .277 success rate. Finally, McGrath made 231 saves and held a .545 save rate in 16 games as the Lions primary goalkeeper.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Malcolm McGrath - 10 GA, 25 saves
Alex Menendez - 2 goals, 2 assists, 1 GB
Jack O'Rourke - 2 goals, 1 GB
Nicholas Fulhione - 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 GB
Birk Swan - 1 goal, 1 assist