GREENVILLE, Pa. – Junior Grant Elffers (Hudson/Hudson) scored a game-winning goal in double overtime to lead the Mount Union men's lacrosse team to a 8-7 victory against Thiel College in its season opener Saturday afternoon at the Rissell-Schreyer Dome in Thiel.

Mount Union (1-0) was led by freshmen Paul Gill (Centreville, Md./Queen Anne's County) who scored two goals and had an assist. Grant Elffers added two goals and junior goalie Jake Krone (Stow/Hudson) made 13 saves for the Purple Raiders.

Thiel's (0-1) Jeffrey Karnoff led the team with three goals.

The Tomcats Jeffrey Karnoff scored back-to-back goals in the first quarter to take an early lead over Mount Union. The Purple Raiders responded with two unanswered goals by freshmen Seamus McCartin (Centreville, Md./Queen Anne's County) and senior Brent Greenberg (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) to tie the game up 2-2 at 12:42 in the second quarter. The Tomcats regained the lead with three straight goals to take a 5-2 lead at halftime.  

Freshmen Alek Kungle (Hartville/Lake) scored a quick goal for the Raiders to begin the third quarter reducing the Thiel lead to 5-3. The score remained 5-3 for the majority of the third quarter before both teams scored goals in the last three minutes of action.

In the fourth quarter, Thiel lead 7-5 with 13:35 to play after a goal by Liam Stickle. Mount Union then rallied to tie the game 7-7 with two unassisted goals by Grant Elffers and Paul Gill. For the final four minutes of action, both teams remained scoreless bringing the matchup to overtime.

Neither team scored in the first overtime, bringing the matchup to a second overtime. At the 4:21 mark, Grant Elffers scored the game-winning unassisted goal for the Raiders.

Mount Union next travels to Latrobe, Pa. on Saturday, February 24 for a game against St. Vincent College at 1:00 p.m.