Richmond, Ind. – The Transylvania men's lacrosse team set new season-highs in scoring and assists en route to an assertive 24-3 win over the Earlham College Quakers on Saturday afternoon.
The victory improves the Pioneers' record to 9-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play while the Quakers fall to 1-11 and 0-3 in conference play.
In the win, Peyton Bray broke the single-game ground ball record with 18 scoops on Saturday. The record was previously held by Kris Stone who had 17 ground balls, also against Earlham on April 10, 2019.
Bryce Lowe erupted for a match-high five goals and totaled eight points on the afternoon. Lowe was one of four different Pioneers who registered hat-tricks in the one-sided performance.
Transylvania grabbed the lead under three minutes into the contest off of a fantastic defensive sequence. The Pioneers forced a turnover and quickly mounted a counterattack. Lowe passed the ball to T. J. Toivonen, who fired a shot past the Earlham goalkeeper to take a 1-0 lead that the Pioneers would continue to expand all afternoon.
After the ensuing face-off, Transylvania took advantage of a man-up situation versus the Quakers. Lowe's second assist of the afternoon went to Andrew Hamill, who doubled the Pioneer lead with 12:25 left in the first quarter.
Hamill continued his scoring streak as Will Warner hit the freshman in stride as he found the back of the net again to increase the lead to three goals. Back-to-back scoring plays from Trenton Sneed and Jack May grew the Pioneers' lead to 5-0 with 7:01 left in the first quarter.
Lowe finished out the quarter with two goals of his own as the Pioneers concluded the quarter with a 7-0 lead. After 15 minutes of play, Transylvania had outshot the Quakers 12-0 with five assists off those goals.
The second quarter picked up where the first left off; after some miscommunication from the Quaker defense, Lowe added his third goal of the afternoon off an assist from Sneed to extend the Pioneer advantage to 8-0 with 13:07 remaining in the half. Just under two minutes later, Transylvania's lead hit double digits on quick goals by Hamill and Ethan Patton.
After another trio of goals from Lowe, Connor Davis and Patton, the Quakers found their first goal of the contest. However, Corbyn Buchart quickly responded with his first goal of the game and the Pioneers led 14-1 with 4:49 remaining in the half.
May, Davis and Seiver Utsey all struck the back of the next to expand the Pioneer lead to 17-1 by halftime. The 17 goals were the most in a half by the Pioneers this season. The Pioneers also forced the 19 Quaker turnovers before intermission.
Emerging from halftime, the Quakers took advantage of a man-up opportunity and scored their second goal of the afternoon to cut into the Pioneer lead to 17-2. With 12:09 left in the third quarter, Transylvania again found themselves a man down, but Patton rattled home a shorthanded goal to increase Transylvania's lead to 18-2.
Jacob Miller set up Addison Enlow for a score and the Sneed to Lowe connection surface again as the Pioneers took a commanding 20-2 lead heading into the final quarter.
Pioneer dominance continued into the fourth quarter as Transylvania outscored Earlham 3-1 to complete the road win. Hamill finished the day with four goals while Patton and Davis each collected hat-tricks. Michael Webb recorded four saves to pick up the win in goal for Transylvania.
Transylvania looks to continue its winning streak in its next matchup versus the Hanover College Panthers in Hanover, Indiana. The game is slated for Wednesday, April 28 at Alumni Stadium at 4:00 p.m.
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