DECATUR, Ala. — The No. 4 SCAD men's lacrosse team punched its ticket to the NAIA National Championship semifinals on Tuesday evening, overcoming a halftime deficit to upset No. 3 Aquinas College 13-11 at the Jack Allen Complex.
RECORDS: The Bees improved to 15-4 overall with the victory, while the Saints end the season at 14-4.
DID YOU KNOW? With this win, SCAD ties the single-season win record. This is also the first time in which the Bees have advanced to the semifinal of a NAIA post season tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Noah Moreland opened the scoring for the Bees just over two minutes into the contest, finding the back of the net at the 12:37 mark of the first quarter. After the opposition briefly took the lead,
Mason Hickman tied the game at 2-2 with 8:18 remaining in the quarter.
Sebastian Manuel then gave SCAD a 3-2 lead following an assist from Hickman at the 5:05 mark, though the frame would end in a 3-3 deadlock.
The momentum shifted in the second period as the opposition outscored the Bees 5-1. Manuel recorded the lone SCAD goal of the quarter at the 8:44 mark, but the Bees went into the halftime break trailing 8-4.
SCAD ignited a massive comeback in the second half, outscoring the Saints 5-2. Hickman sparked the offense early in the third quarter, scoring the first goal of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 8-5. Despite the opposition pushing their lead back to four goals twice in the quarter, (9-5, 10-6), the Bees responded with a furious three-goal rally in the final 94 seconds of the quarter with goals from Moreland (2), and Hickman brought the score within one (10-9) heading into the final quarter.
The Bees' offense carried that momentum into the fourth quarter as the defense locked it down to only allow one goal to SCAD's four. O'Bryant Graves buried a man-up goal at the 11:20 mark to tie the game at 10-10. Manuel then delivered the go-ahead goal with 6:30 remaining in regulation to give SCAD its first lead of the second half. Hickman and Manuel added critical insurance goals at the 2:44 and 1:41 marks, respectively, to help secure the two-goal victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: The Bees' offense was paced by
Sebastian Manuel, who delivered a game-high seven points on four goals and three assists.
Mason Hickman was equally prolific, matching the team high with four goals while adding one assist.
Noah Moreland recorded a hat trick with three goals, and
Jonathan O'Bryant Graves rounded out the multi-goal scorers with two tallies.
Travis Cheristin also contributed to the scoring effort with one assist.
Defensively,
Keaton Melcher stood tall in the cage, recording 12 saves to secure the win.
Jonathan O'Bryant Graves led the team on the ground with six ground balls,
Conor Marr and
Noah Moreland anchored the defensive effort with two caused turnovers each.
WHAT'S NEXT? The Bees continue their pursuit of a national title in the NAIA Semifinals against No. 2 Keiser University on Thursday, May 14, in Decatur, Ala.
