The No. 10-ranked Lindenwood men's lacrosse team used a seven consecutive goal spree to squeeze past Lake Erie by a final score of 9-8 on Thursday.
 
In the first quarter, the Lions jumped into the driver's seat by scoring the first two goals of the game. Sam Heaton and Garrett Brunsvold each found the back of the net on unassisted plays. However, the Storm, having outshot the Lions by a 9-4 margin, clawed their way back and tallied two goals including one with 16 seconds left in the period.
 
The Lions struggled to fend off the Storm on defense as they were penalized twice and faced a flurry of shots within the first five minutes of the second quarter. Lake Erie took its first lead of the game at the 11:47 mark with a man up. Six minutes later, the Storm stretched their lead to 4-2 after sprinting through a clear attempt. The Lions defended three more shots for the rest of the quarter including Ben Besancenez saving one.
 
The Storm carried its momentum into the second half by scoring two more goals within the first three minutes to extend its lead to 6-2.
 
Then the Lions found light on offense starting at the 10:20 mark that began a scoring frenzy. Leonard Jones registered his first goal of the game off a pass from Andrew Hasz followed up by Hasz recording a score of his own dished by David Corazalla. Corazalla piled on with a goal at the 6:03 mark to shrink the Storm's lead to one. Heaton took his turn on the spree and posted his second unassisted goal of the game to even the score at six goals apiece heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The Lions continued to bulldoze through the Storm as they lengthened their spree to seven straight goals to take a three-score lead. Sean Darroch and Kevin Eskridge started off the quarter with back-to-back scores followed by another goal from Eskridge off an assist from Josh Coons at the 9:17 mark.
 
Lake Erie pushed an attempt to come back starting at the 2:38 mark when it tallied its first goal since the beginning of the third quarter. Just 31 seconds later, the Storm cut the Lion's lead to 9-8 after winning a faceoff due to violation. The Storm tried to score again, but failed on three attempts included two saved by Besancenez as the Lions sealed the deal.
 
Besancenez, winning his ninth game of the season, saved 11 shots for the game on 38 total faced. The Lions had 12 of 21 shots go on-goal for the game while the Storm had 19 of 38.
 
After the victory, the Lions improve their record to 9-3 on the season. They will stay on the road for a matchup on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT against Walsh.