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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – A second-half rally by the Otterbein men's lacrosse team turned into one of the wildest and most memorable games at Memorial Stadium in recent memory, with the Cardinals ultimately falling 9-8 to Albion College in a triple-overtime thriller.

Albion, three-time defending MIAA champions, never trailed in the game after building a 3-0 lead after one quarter and then carrying a 6-2 advantage into halftime. The Britons (2-4) were spearheaded by the hot play of goalie Trevor McManus, who had 11 saves before intermission en route to a career-high 25 by day's end.

The Cardinals (2-4) faced an 8-3 deficit midway through the third period before catching fire, going on a 5-0 run as the defense delivered multiple stops and the offense kicked into gear. Included in the rally were man-down and man-up goals from middie Joe Sanfillipo.

Albion clung to an 8-6 lead entering the final minutes of regulation, but a pesky Cardinal team continued chipping away and made it a one-possession game following Chandler Swartz converting a nice pass from Anthony Spingola in front of the net. Sanfillipo then erupted the home crowd with 58 seconds on the clock after roping in the equalizer.

Neither team would crack through in the first two overtime periods, as the Cards unfortunately came up empty on a pair of advantage situations. Albion ultimately emerged in the third extra session when leading scorer David DiRado converted a nice shot from the right side of the attacking zone.

Otterbein finished with a 59-40 shot advantage but missed the mark on some occasions and then, as previously mentioned, were stymied 25 times by the standout day from McManus. The Britons also captured 14 of the 22 faceoffs.

Cardinal freshman Zachary Groene entered the cage after halftime and played admirably, allowing a pair of early goals but then regrouping to help keep Albion scoreless for the next 33 minutes. He made five saves in replacement of Matt Niemi, who also played well and stopped nine shots in the first half.

Sanfillipo led all goal scorers with a hat trick while Swartz, Drew McDonald and Connor Dziewit all had two-point days. Defenseman Tommy Kolibash was impressive on the back line in recording game-highs of four caused turnovers and five ground balls.

Alec Palmer and Paul Lewis both scored twice for Albion while Brandon Lebioda (1G, 3A) notched a team-best four points.

Otterbein will now embark on a three-game road trip, beginning next week at Kenyon before proceeding to Heidelberg and Oberlin.