The Lindenwood men's lacrosse team advanced to the ECAC Tournament championship game for the second straight season after taking down Lake Erie by a final score of 8-6 on Friday morning. The Lions avenged both their 8-7 loss against the Storm from April 9 and 11-8 defeat from last season's ECAC championship game.
 
In the first quarter, Jon George scored the Lions' first goal in the first five minutes of play. With five minutes remaining, the Lions dominated offensively, racking up three goals to the Storm's one. Tyler Eidel found the back of the net at the 4:29 mark while Kevin Eskridge assisted to Josh Coons at the 2:02 mark. Eskridge shot a near last-second goal to give the Lions a comfortable 4-1 lead heading into the second quarter.
 
The Storm scored the first goal of the second quarter, but the Lions retaliated with two straight goals within a minute span. Sean Darroch, who was named to the ECAC All-Rookie Team, scored his first postseason goal followed by George's second goal of the game. Lake Erie went on to tally two more goals to cut the lead down to 6-4 heading into halftime.
 
In the third quarter, the Storm scored at the 12:16 mark, but Coons returned the Lions to a two-goal lead off a feed from Henry Wurzer. Neither team would score again for the quarter.
 
Both teams kept each other off each other's goals for the majority of the final quarter until Connor Eskridge extended the Lions to three goals with 2:24 remaining. Although the Storm responded with their own goal, the Lions had sealed the deal.
 
The Lions played stout defense as they stopped all four of Lake Erie's man-up opportunities and held the Storm to their second lowest scoring total this season. Ben Besancenez faced 19 total shots on goal while saving 13 of them. Connor Laird, who was honored with a spot on the ECAC's All Conference First Team, forced two more turnovers to increase his total to 23 on the season.
 
The Lions will face Mercyhurst in the ECAC Championship at noon EST on Sunday at Erie, Pa. The Lions defeated the Lakers on the road by a final score of 8-7 back on April 2.