Lexington, Ky. - The Transylvania men's lacrosse team etched the latest chapter in its conference dynasty with a 25-6 win over the Hanover College Panthers in the 2021 Heartland Collegiate Lacrosse Conference Championship match on Saturday afternoon at Pat Deacon Stadium.
The Pioneers clinched their sixth consecutive conference tournament championship with the dominant win over Hanover and sealed up their fourth straight automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament as victors of the conference tournament.
Transylvania completed the year a perfect 7-0 at home and 6-0 against conference competition spanning the HCLC regular season and conference tournament while Hanover's season ended at 8-5 overall.
The Pioneers now stand at 13-2 overall, their best single-season winning percentage in program history entering the NCAA Tournament (.866).
Rematching the Panthers in the championship match for the first time since May 4, 2019 when the Pioneers won 14-8, Transylvania wasted no time in initiating its championship procession on Saturday.
Kaden Bates ushered in the scoring with the first goal of the day 19 seconds into the championship and Bryce Lowe followed with back-to-back scores with the match less than two and a half minutes old. Andrew Hamill scored the first of his career-high six goals at the 11:12 mark of the first quarter to spot the Pioneers a 4-0 advantage.
Hanover found the back of the net twice in the first quarter but the Pioneers would score four more times in the opening period to curate an overwhelming 8-2 advantage after one quarter.
The second quarter was all Transylvania as the home team outscored the Panthers, 7-0 in the quarter to amass a 15-2 advantage at halftime. The Pioneers outshot Hanover, 43-6 in the first half and won the ground ball battle, 29-10 in the opening half to dominate all facets of the game.
Ethan Patton, Kayd Aquino, and Bryce Lowe all doled out a pair of goals in the third quarter as the lead bloomed further for the Pioneers. Hamill scored his final two goals of the day in the fourth quarter as the Pioneers put the clamps on Hanover with a 4-1 difference in the final quarter on the way to raising the HCLC trophy.
Hamill added three caused turnovers and two ground balls to his credit while Michael Webb matched Hamill with three caused turnovers in goal to go with four ground balls, three saves, and the win.
One game after shattering the Pioneer program records for single-game goals and points, Bryce Lowe tallied four goals, four ground balls, and one caused turnover in another highlight-laden performance. Ethan Patton rang up four goals on championship Saturday while Kayd Aquino had a four-point day for the Pioneers. Peyton Bray had a match-high nine ground balls and won 19 of 27 face-offs for the Pioneers.
T.J. Toivonen had two caused turnovers on Saturday to move his career total to 181, which stands sixth all-time in NCAA Division III men's lacrosse history. The reigning two-time conference Defensive Player of the Year added five ground balls and one goal in his fourth championship match appearance.
Transylvania will continue its 2021 postseason journey with the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championships. Transylvania will find out its opening-round assignment and opponent tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show streamed live on NCAA.com.
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