The Lindenwood men's lacrosse team faced a pair of NCAA Division II programs from Florida this week. The Lions lost to Saint Leo by a 17-9 score, and fell to Florida Southern by a 12-8 margin.

There were two very different halves on Tuesday night versus Saint Leo. The Lions led at halftime but trailed 17-9 on the scoreboard at the end of the game.

In the first half, Lindenwood outshot Saint Leo by a 23-20 margin and had a 24-23 advantage in groundballs. Lindenwood scored the first three goals of the game, but Saint Leo came back and had a 5-4 lead after one quarter. In the second quarter, Lindenwood scored four of the first five goals of the period and it led 8-7 at halftime.

The second half was a different story, as Saint Leo outshot Lindenwood 32-10 and had a 29-18 lead in groundballs. In the third quarter, Saint Leo scored seven unanswered goals to pull away. Lindenwood scored the first goal of the fourth quarter, but gave up the final three scores of the game.

Carter McCracken and Kyle O'Donnell each led the offense with two goals and an assist, and Brandon Stuebing also scored two times. Other goals came from Jordan McKay, Richard Wilson, and McNein Hewitt.

Defensively, Richard Wilson had six groundballs and also won 13 of 23 faceoffs. Andrew Peterson had five groundballs. Dan Ashlock faced 52 shots, including 39 on goal. He made 22 saves on the night.

On Wednesday night at Florida Southern, the Lions allowed seven unanswered goals in the second and third periods which were the difference in the game.

Florida Southern scored the first two goals of the game, but Lindenwood bounced back to take a 4-3 lead in the second quarter. Florida Southern scored three times in the final five minutes of the first half, and then struck four more times in the first five minutes of the second half. The Lions dominated play the rest of the game, but couldn't get closer than four the rest of the game.

Lindenwood outshot Florida Southern by a 30-25 margin, but Florida Southern had the advantage in saves, groundballs, and faceoffs.

Tyler Davis and McKay each had three goals for Lindenwood. Josh Arras and Hewitt had the other goals, and Andrew Peterson led the team with two assists.

Daniel Strike led the defense with four groundballs, and Ashlock made nine saves in goals.

Lindenwood, which is now 8-4 on the season, returns to MCLA action on Friday at Florida.