LEXINGTON- The Transylvania Men's Lacrosse team has punched their ticket to the NCAA DIII Men's Lacrosse Tournament after a dominating HCLC Championship game. The Pioneers came into today's game as the 1 seed in the HCLC, defeating the #2 seed in the HCLC, Hanover, 27-4. This is the most goals scored by the Pioneers this season and the most scored in a game since 2019.

Today the Pioneers were able to dictate every aspect of the game as they would have an overwhelming first half, before a methodical possession mentality in the second half. The Pioneers would total 16 goals in the first half to Hanovers 2. Offensively the Pioneers would see four hat tricks with 12 separate Pioneers scoring in today's contest. Today's leader was Luke Stetter who finished with 4 goals, and 2 caused turnovers all on 5 shots. Today the Pioneers would have a season high 17 assists, this would be led by Luke Hinton who would total an impressive 4 assists. Adding to this Hinton would have 3 goals, 3 ground balls, and a caused turnover.

Defensively the Pioneers would continue their stingy play, today causing 27 turnovers, second most this season. Luke Plummer would be today's turnover leader as the Junior would add 1 ground ball this game. Ben Marcum would perform as usual, having a great day totaling 3 caused turnovers, 1 ground ball, and 1 assist. Lastly Patrick Slagle would have an impressive game as he would total 3 caused turnovers, matching his previous game high against Earlham last time out. 

The Pioneers have cleared the ball well all season, tonight being no different as the Pioneers did so a perfect 27-27 times. The hustle stats don't lie in showing catalyst for the victory with the Pioneers getting to the ball quicker, earning 54 ground balls to Hanovers 15. Lastly the Pioneers had success at the face off x with Transy winning a majority 29 to Hanovers 9. Today's face off leader would be Parker Rowland who would go 16-19 while finishing with 2 goals and 14 ground balls. 

Head Coach Logan Otto shares his thoughts on the season: "This has been a really fun season with this group thus far. They started from the beginning of the year on to buying into this process. That is a credit to our captains, coaches and teammates...This team is special"

The Pioneers now look to the D3 NCAA Tournament as the selection show takes place May 5th at 9PM. This will be streamed through the NCAA.com as well as through team1sports.com/transy/ where you can see the Pioneers reaction!