Bloomington, Ill. - The Transylvania men's lacrosse team overcame an early 5-1 deficit to knock off the top-seeded Illinois Wesleyan University Titans on Friday night, and will advance to the CCIW Championship with the 18-16 win. Four different Pioneers scored hat tricks to help the cause in a back and forth game with several momentum swings.
The Titans struck first 40 seconds into the night and added another two minutes later, before Tristan Ach put one on the board for the Pioneers. In the next five minutes Illinois Wesleyan took charge and forged a 5-1 lead, putting Transy in the early hole. The four goal deficit did not last long, as quickly Will Warner scored and Bryce Lowe buried a pair in just the final minute of the quarter, making it 5-4.
The end of the first worked to the benefit of the Titans, as it put a pause on a Transylvania surge. They promptly put up four straight to start the second quarter, taking an 8-4 advantage. Yet again the Pioneers battled right back with goals from Kaden Bates and Quinn Fox. Bryce Lowe's player up tally wrapped up a first half hat trick for the senior. Transy came close to tying things up but the Titans scored late in the second, giving them a 9-7 lead with one half in the books.
Just over one minute into the third, Tai Stormont scored on a feed from Fox, but again Illinois Wesleyan pulled ahead, with two goals in the next two minutes. Down 11-8, Dalton Hubbs put one home, followed by two more from Stormont and Will Warner, evening things up. The Titans took back the lead at the 7:06 mark, but another three goal push, from Fox, Hubbs, and Ryan Geisler, gave Transylvania a 14-12 lead late in the third. Illinois Wesleyan scored one late to come within one, making for an epic final quarter to decide the elimination game.
The Titans came out and leapfrogged the Pioneers with two scores, but the Transy team turned around and did the exact same thing, with goals from Warner and Bray in an incredible span of just six seconds. Illinois Wesleyan tied the game with 8:45 to go, but less than a minute later Hubbs notched his third, as the Pios led 17-16. With the game winding down, Transy pushed to find another goal but were unable to do so, and had to clamp down on defense to grind it out and secure the win. After several clutch defensive stops and saves, Tai Stormont completed the hat trick with a massive insurance goal with 54 seconds remaining, and Transylvania held to take the win 18-16.
Senior goaltender Connor Haney started the game and made six key saves early on. Late in the second quarter Topher Hays took over in goal, and was credited with the win after standing tall when it mattered most late in the contest.
The Pioneers earn a statement win in their first ever season playing in the CCIW conference, taking down the #1 seed and moving forward to the conference title game. The team avenges their overtime loss to the Titans on March 26th that had been a tough pill to swallow.
Transylvania moves on ahead to the CCIW Championship, to take on North Central on Sunday, May 8th in Naperville, Illinois, with a start time TBA. Stay tuned on transysports.com for updates. More information on the 2022 CCIW Tournament can be found on the conference's webpage.
For more information on Transylvania men's lacrosse, follow @Transy_Lax on Twitter.
