The St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team worked together to record eight straight goals in a huge comeback attempt, but fell just short as the Middlebury Panthers edged the Saints 12-11 in Middlebury, Vermont on Monday afternoon.

Senior captain Jordan Dow recorded four goals and one assist for five points, while Conor Caffrey added three goals and two assists for another five points. Mike Donnelly scored two goals for the Scarlet and Brown, while Steven Peterson and Cal Hynson each tallied one. Sam Sweeney grabbed a team-high eight ground balls and Sam Boehle caused three turnovers and went 5-for-17 in the faceoff circle.

The Panthers notched five goals in just five minutes and eight seconds of play to open the game. Parker Lawlor struck first putting Middlebury on the board 35 seconds into play, while Frank Cosolito was next for the Panthers putting Middlebury up 2-0 at the 9:49 mark of the first frame.

John Jackson tacked on the third goal after rushing the ball off the faceoff only seven seconds after Cosolito's goal. Middlebury would add two more increasing its lead to 5-0 after the first 15 minutes of play.

40 seconds into the second quarter, Alderik vanderHeyde capitalized on a quick pass from Jack Gould to tally a man-up goal at 9:20.

Caffrey notched the first goal of the game for the Saints after he sent a shot sailing past Panthers goalkeeper Charles Midgley on the right side. The assist was given to Steven Peterson.

The Saints looked to hold procession through the remaining minute of play in the first half, unfortunately, Henry Riehl stripped Sam Martin of the ball and rushed it up the field to Danny Jacobs, who set A.J. Kucinski up for Middlebury's seventh goal 20 seconds before halftime.

Terry kicked of the second half with a huge save between the pipes, but it wasn't long before Middlebury posted back-to-back goals from Michael McCormack and Will Brossman.

The Saints rallied on a fast break, Dow raced down the field, found Caffrey, who put the ball straight in the back of the net for his second of the game and ninth of the season. Another rush from Dow helped the Saints close the gap to 9-3 with 10:51 to play in the third.

McCormack bounced a shot past Terry for his second of the game to give Middlebury a 10-3 lead at the 7:52 mark of the third and then tallied his third of the game at the 5:07 mark with a man-up advantage.

Eric Rogers would add one more for Middlebury giving the Panthers a 12-3 lead, before St. Lawrence launched a major comeback, recording the next eight goals, including three man-up goals, to end the game just one short.

Dow rolled the first one in for the Saints with a man-up advantage with 3:29 to play in the third frame. Then, Jack Hennessey found Donnelly on the right side of the net, closing the gap to seven, before Caffrey snuck up for his third of the game with 11:24 to play.

Peterson launched a shot from about ten yards out for a top-shelf goal to bring the Saints within five. Cal Hynson would strike once for the Saints, while Mike Donnelly added his second of the game and Dow added two more goals including one with 1:24 to play closing Middlebury's lead to only one goal.

As the clock wound down, Middlebury maintained possession and the 12-11 lead to close the game.

"We obviously didn't come off the bus the way we wanted to which is on me," said head coach Mike Mahoney. "I was extremely proud of the willingness to battle for 60 minutes and we came up just short. We learned some valuable lessons today, which is why you play great teams in March."

McCormack led the Panthers with three goals, while nine other members of the Middlebury squad tallied one goal each. Jacobs also added an assist for Middlebury, while Jake Madnick picked up a team-high seven ground balls and Jackson went 10-for-14 in the faceoff circle.

Terry made seven saves in goal for the Saints and was relieved by Matty Corbelle who recorded one save, while Midgley tallied 16 saves for the Panthers.

With today's loss, the Saints fell to 2-1 overall, while Middlebury improved to 2-1.

The Saints will travel to Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut to take on Vassar in their first Liberty League game of the season, before heading to Virginia on spring break.