Naperville, Il. - On Sunday afternoon, the Transylvania men's lacrosse team took on the North Central Cardinals in the CCIW Lacrosse Championship match. The Pioneers came in fresh off of their upset win over the number one seeded Illinois Wesleyan, who had gone undefeated in CCIW play before facing the Pioneers in the tournament.
Transylvania was the first team to net a goal in their matchup against North Central, with what proved to be the only one of the first quarter. Transylvania's Bryce Lowe scored that opening goal, unassisted, to give the Pioneers the early lead. Topher Hays came up big with 8 saves in the first quarter alone.
Heading into the second, North Central finally broke through at the 12:00 mark in the period. Dalton Hubbs soon answered back with two goals in a span of just one minute and 25 seconds, making it a 3-1 score. The Cardinals netted two late in the quarter, making it a 3-3 low scoring deadlock with a half down.
The second half featured more offensive firepower from both teams, as a total of 15 goals were scored in the final two quarters. Out of the break, North Central scored twice more to go ahead 5-3 but Will Warner cut the lead in half at the 11:31 mark. The Cardinals found another pair of goals, but Warner stayed hot with two of his own making it 7-6 after three, and setting up for an epic ending to the contest.
The fourth quarter featured plenty of explosive goal scoring from both sides, as eight total goals were netted in the final period. The Cardinals got on the board first, and from there the teams exchanged two goal runs back and forth. Hubbs and Lowe scored to tie the game at 8-8 with just over 10 minutes to go, but North Central put up the next two making it 10-8. With under six minutes to go the Pioneers got on a roll as Warner scored his fourth, and Kayd Aquino tied things up with 5:04 remaining.
In the final five minutes of the game, North Central again took the lead, giving the Pioneers four minutes to battle for another. Transy pushed up the field and allowed just two shot attempts for the team out of Naperville. Andrew Hamill fired one on at the 3:10 mark but it was blocked by a defender who paid the price to protect the lead. From there North Central worked the clock and prevented the Pioneers from getting another chance.
Transy never gave up and caused a turnover with just 26 seconds left on the far side of the field. AJ Teague grabbed the ball and Transy quickly worked the ball up for one last chance. Aquino and Hubbs each passed on unfavorable looks and found Warner, the hot hand, with space. With just ticks remaining the junior ripped a shot looking for his fifth goal, but the ball went just wide and North Central took the victory.
After a successful first season in the CCIW where they made plenty of noise, the Pioneers will look ahead to building off the 2022 campaign, and competing for the title again. Head coach Logan Otto, in his first year after longtime Head Coach Terry Justice passed him the reins, had a highly impressive first season. Finishing with an overall record of 11-5 for a 69% win rate, the Pioneers defeated some great talent along their path through the regular season and the CCIW tournament.
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