DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Delaware Valley men's lacrosse team suffered their first loss of the season Wednesday night, falling 12-2 to Gwynedd Mercy.

The Aggies created early chances, with Kieran Schneider and Luke Wikto firing wide and Sean Miller having a shot blocked. Goaltender Daniel Hickling made his first save at 13:03 before Aston Benkwitt took a penalty. The Aggies' penalty kill stood strong, with Hickling making back-to-back stops. Another penalty, this time a crosscheck, was also successfully killed off. Despite Hickling's efforts in net, Gwynedd Mercy broke through late in the first quarter. Ian Kish put the Griffins on the board with 3:36 left, and in the final seconds, he struck again to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.

The Griffins kept the momentum going, scoring just over a minute into the second quarter. Hickling and Jared Devine made key saves to keep DelVal within reach. The Aggies had a man-up opportunity but only managed one shot from Miller, which was saved. Gwynedd made them pay soon after, as Kish completed his hat trick on the power play. A rebound goal by Gunnar Seaman with 3:46 remaining in the half pushed the deficit to 5-0.

Gwynedd continued to apply pressure in the third quarter. Hickling made a pair of early stops, but Kish found the net once again. Seaman added his second minutes later, and another tally from Kish with 8:22 left in the third extended the Griffins' lead to 8-0.DelVal finally broke through a minute later when Ryan Lindberg scored on a man-up opportunity, assisted by Schneider. However, Gwynedd Mercy responded three minutes later to make it 9-1. A late turnover at midfield led to another Griffins goal, sending DelVal into the fourth quarter trailing 10-1.

Kish struck again early in the fourth for his sixth goal of the game. The Aggies faced a two-man disadvantage after two unnecessary roughness penalties but successfully killed it off. After a strong save from Hickling, Ryley Savering connected with Schneider for a backdoor goal—his 17th of the season—to make it 12-2 with 6:15 remaining.DelVal had a man-up opportunity in the final minutes but couldn't capitalize as Gwynedd controlled possession to close out the game. Despite the loss, Hickling made a career high 21 saves, playing all 60 minutes in the cages.

With the loss, the Aggies drop to 3-1 overall. They'll look to bounce back on Saturday, March 15, when they host Alvernia at 4 p.m.