Ethan Magoc photo: Senior Zach Nash has been the backbone of the Mercyhurst defense for the last two seasons. Nash has held every opponent this season, including the nations’ top offense in Limestone, to under 10 goals. The Lakers have two games remaining before post-season The phrase, practice makes perfect, is often thrown around with reckless abandon. However misused it may be, it does apply to a number of successful teams. The Mercyhurst men’s lacrosse team appears to be one of them.

Sitting in second place with a 10-2 record with two games left in the regular season, the Lakers are looking to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II tournament. After last year’s team was snubbed of a playoff spot despite a 13-1 record, this year’s team has been working even harder to make sure it doesn’t happen two years in a row.

Since strength of schedule proved a pitfall for last year’s Lakers, this season’s team was determined not to suffer the same fate. The team fought through its first seven games, six of which were on the road, to get through half the season with a 6-1 record.

After fighting through the tough road schedule, the Lakers dispatched highly-ranked Dowling at home before heading back out on the road. During their penultimate road game, the Lakers faced top-ranked C.W. Post and lost, 4-3. It was their final defeat to date.

As if the schedule wasn’t hard enough already, the Lakers still had then-No. 1 Limestone and No. 7 New York Tech on the schedule.

“Before the Limestone game, we had an amazing week of practice. Everything was crisp and pinpoint accurate which added to our confidence,” Coach Chris Ryan said.

The practice work led the Lakers to a 12-8 victory over Limestone.

Goalie Zach Nash stood at the heart of the win and has pushed the season’s upward trajectory. The Lakers have not given up 10 goals in one game this season. The reigning ECAC goalie of the year had 12 saves against Limestone and was just as critical against New York Tech.

“We proved last year that we need to be perfect down the stretch,” Nash said. “Being a senior, I want to go out and play the best I can and help the team win.”

After a solid week of practice and the Limestone victory, the team didn’t have the same stellar week of practice headed into the New York Tech game.

“New York Tech has become such a big rivalry game, even though practice wasn’t as solid as I would like, the guys came out and played hard and won (10-8),” Ryan said.

Ryan has said he doesn’t plan on “adding anything new” going forward, but the last two games are must-wins for the Lakers. Win their last two games and they will likely to get the Division II at-large bid.

“If we lose one, then things will become very interesting, and we don’t want that,” he said.

The Lakers are fortunate enough to spend this last week of the season at home, with both Seton Hill and Dominican coming to Erie.

The team will face Seton Hill Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Tullio Field, and Dominican will come to town on Saturday at 1 p.m. The selections for the NCAA tournament are slated for Sunday.