Elmhurst, Ill. - On Sunday afternoon, the Transylvania Pioneers men's lacrosse team played a neutral site game against the Carroll University Pioneers in Elmhurst, Illinois at Elmhurst University. Coming into the game, the Pioneers had a record of 8-3 and were winners of their previous three matches. They looked to continue rolling against Carroll which is exactly what they did, taking the win in dominant fashion with a final score of 26-3.
The Pioneers came out of the gates fast, like the thoroughbreds at Keeneland on this opening weekend. They scored a total of six goals in the opening period compared to Carroll's single goal. Transylvania's Andrew Hamill started the scoring barrage early in the period, at the 12:58 mark, followed by Kayd Aquino who scored the next two for the Pios, coming at the 10:41 mark and nearly seven minutes later again at the 3:55 mark. Bryce Lowe scored an unbelievably quick hat trick in the quarter, with all three goals coming within a two minute timeframe. Carroll was able to find one goal before the final seconds counted down to make the score 6-1 heading into the second.
In the second, Transy continued to put pressure on their opponents by netting five more goals before the halftime intermission while also playing strong defense, forcing Carroll to go scoreless in the quarter. After goals from Dalton Hubbs and Matthew Clough in the first five minutes of the period, Transylvania first-year Tai Stormont captured a hat trick of his own with three straight goals before heading to halftime. The score at the break was 11-1, but even with the large lead, Transylvania had no plans of slowing down.
In the third period the Transylvania Pioneers truly put the game out of reach, as they had one of their best quarters of the entire season. The Pios scored a total of 12 goals in the quarter, with the 12 scored by a total of 10 different players, as nearly everyone was in on the action on Sunday. Hamill scored the first of the third to get things going, Dylan Mordhorst scored his first of two in the quarter at the 11:45 mark. Mordhorst's second score was at the 7:01 mark, which came after goals from Ryan Geisler and Preston Weinberg at 9:50 and 8:13 respectively. Three more goals were scored, this time coming from Cole Brickley, Quinn Fox, and Cameron Earley, before Stormont added two more to his tally to make it five on the day for the first-year. Mordhorst got his hat trick and Jack Babb scored to close out the scoring for the Pioneers in a tidal wave of a quarter where they took a 23-3 lead.
The Pioneers controlled the game the rest of the way, as they scored three more in the fourth. Babb scored his second of the game while Tucker Strode and Kaden Bates scored their first of the game each. The final score of the matchup was an astounding 26-3, as the Pioneers looked ready to take on any opponent in the country.
The season continues for the Pioneers next Saturday, back home in Lexington, Kentucky for their senior day against Carthage College with a 1:00 PM scheduled start, for their final home game of the season. They move to 8-3 on the year and look to continue to carry this momentum.
To keep up with this Transylvania men's lacrosse team, be sure to follow @Transy_Lax on Twitter
