Erie, Pa. – The Le Moyne College men's lacrosse team clinched a berth in the Northeast Conference Championships with an 8-7 victory over Mercyhurst University on Saturday afternoon at Saxon Stadium.

Mercyhurst opened the game's scoring at the 10:17 mark as Ryan Mahoney finished off a feed from Antonio Rossetti.

Le Moyne, which improved to 11-1 against the Lakers and 3-0 in Erie, answered with back-to-back goals. Graduate student midfielder Ethan Loun (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) knotted the score at one apiece with 9:35 left. Just 75 seconds later, freshman midfielder Emmet McDermott (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) found to back of the net to put the Dolphins in front.

Mahoney scored again during a 5-on-5 situation with 6:33 left to even the score at two.

The Dolphins scored the final two goals of the quarter to take the lead for good. Junior attackman Owen Wilson (Latham, N.Y./Shaker) finished off a pass from redshirt sophomore attackman Thomas Berry (Tully, N.Y./Tully) for the lead with 3:48 remaining. Just after the expiration of an extra-man opportunity, senior midfielder Brian Nephew (Irving, N.Y./St. Joseph Collegiate) put the back in the back of the net after receiving a feed from Berry with 2:41 left.

Loun extended Le Moyne's lead to 5-2 at the 12:03 mark of the second quarter off a pass from graduate student attackman Zachary Delaney (Syracuse, N.Y./Onondaga/Hobart).

The Lakers got back within one with the next two goals. Rossetti scored the first at the 6:39 mark after taking a dish from Jérémi Phoenix-Lefebvre. Chase Petschke then scored with 1:19 to go following a pass from Ethan Landymore.

Senior midfielder Ryan Eisenmann (Boca Raton, Fla./Boca Raton) pushed the lead back to two, 6-4, with nine seconds remaining in the half.

Rossetti scored the only goal of the third quarter at the 13:01 mark off a pass from Mahoney.

Wilson got the Dolphins back on the board at the 13:11 mark of the fourth quarter by finishing off a feed from Berry.

Colin Tardif got the goal back just 46 seconds later after taking a pass from Phoenix-Lefebvre.

Only 29 seconds later, graduate student midfielder Wyatt Auyer (Memphis, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/UIndy) scored the eventual game-winning goal.

Landymore got the Lakers back within one with 6:19 left off a feed from Tardif.

The Lakers put three shots on goal over the final six minutes of the game, but each was turned away by sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Winger (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) to keep the Dolphins in front.

Winger finished the game with 15 saves, including four in each of the last three quarters, to earn his fifth victory between the pipes. Tyler Moritzen tallied 13 saves, including six in the first quarter, in the loss.

Le Moyne (8-4, 5-0 NEC), which set up a winner-take-all matchup with Robert Morris on April 26 for the NEC regular season title and the top seed in the NEC Championships, concludes its road slate next Saturday at LIU at 2:00 p.m.