GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The No. 12 Swarthmore College men's lacrosse team dropped an intense battle at No. 8 Gettysburg College on Saturday night, 12-11, in the Centennial Conference opener.
 
The margin did not surpass two goals throughout the entire contest. The Garnet held an 8-6 advantage with 4:12 to go in the third quarter. However, the Bullets then did not allow a goal for nearly 15 minutes of game time and scored four themselves to take a 10-8 lead. Swarthmore inched to within one goal three times but were unable to net the equalizer.
 
Clay Almgren tallied four goals to lead the Garnet attack. Nolan Ohrman scored twice. Matthew Martinez won nine face-offs and collected seven ground balls. Drew Tyson tied his career high with his second 20-save performance of the season. Swarthmore was held to its fewest number of shots (29) and shots on goal (18) of the campaign.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
-  Almgren got the Garnet on the board first at the 9:24 mark of the opening quarter. However, Gettysburg answered with three in a row to take a 3-1 lead after 15 minutes of play.
 
- Swarthmore had a strong start to the second, scoring three straight to go ahead 4-3 with 7:37 on the clock. Almgren had two of the markers and Michael Hardiman netted the other. After the Bullets evened the score, Ohrman scored on an extra-man opportunity then Almgren potted his fourth of the night to restore a two-goal edge for the Garnet (6-4) with 3:25 remaining. Gettysburg got one back before halftime and trailed 6-5 at the break.
 
- The Bullets registered the first goal of the third quarter to tie it up at six. Owen Hoffman and Ohrman posted back-to-back tallies to put Swarthmore up two (8-6) once more. The Garnet then went nearly one full quarter's worth of game time without a score as Gettysburg held Swarthmore to just two shot attempts in that span. The Bullets produced four unanswered goals to take a 10-8 lead in the fourth quarter.
 
- The Garnet finally ended their drought with 4:44 to go as Danny Lowe found the back of the net. Swarthmore won the ensuing face-off but turned it over and Gettysburg capitalized to make it 11-9 with 2:43 left. The Bullets won the next draw but Samuel Ginsberg caused a turnover and Ryder Maston beat the goalkeeper to bring the Garnet within one again at the 1:31 mark.
 
- Maston got the groundball on the ensuing face-off and Swarthmore had a chance to tie in the final minute. However, Gettysburg forced a turnover with 25 seconds to play and was able to find the open net against the Garnet's 10-man ride with one second remaining to make it a two-score game (12-10). Swarthmore was awarded possession on a face-off violation and Liam Halstead beat the buzzer with a shot from midfield to account for the final goal.
 
GARNET LEADERS
Points: Almgren 4
Goals: Almgren 4
Assists: Emmett Harris, Rex Mabbs 1
Ground Balls: Martinez 7
Caused Turnovers: Five players 1
Face-offs: Martinez 9-for-18, Jack McHenry 4-for-8
Saves: Tyson 20
 
UP NEXT
The Garnet (7-2, 0-1 Centennial) host Muhlenberg College on Wednesday.