Lacrosse Wins 2015 SAC Tournament Championship
The Lions’ lacrosse team won the 2015 South Atlantic Conference Tournament Championship Saturday afternoon by defeating Lenoir-Rhyne 8-7 at the Queens Sports Complex.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Lions' lacrosse team won the 2015 South Atlantic Conference Tournament Championship Saturday afternoon by defeating Lenoir-Rhyne 8-7 at the Queens Sports Complex. The no. 4 seed Lions improved to 8-6 on the season while the no. 3 seed Bears fell to 9-7 overall.
Anthony Malcom, Jimmy McBride and Hunter Maggs scored two goals apiece to pace the Lions offensively. Malcom added an assist while Saxon Weil and Ryan Sage recorded a goal and an assist each in the victory. Jack Grinewich played all 60 minutes in goal for MHU and made 14 saves. Five Lion players were selected to the SAC All-Tournament team. Grinewich was the event's most valuable player.
Ned Kaish led the Bears with three goals and two assists. Jay Goldsmith tallied two scores. Mike Hanlon recorded a goal and an assist in the loss. Ryan Crompton played the entire game in the net for L-R and made eight saves.
The Lions led 2-1 after the first quarter thanks to goals by Weil and Maggs. Scores by McBride and Malcom allowed the Lions to take a 4-1 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
The Bears came out of the break and scored four unanswered goals to lead 5-4 at the 6:42 mark of the third frame. Maggs tied the contest at 5-all on an unassisted goal before Ryan Sage put MHU up 6-5 off a pass from Malcom. After Kaish tied the contest (6-6) with 2:21 left in the third stanza, Malcom and McBride scored goals at the 1:10 and 0:20 mark in the third period, respectively, to seal the win for the Lions. The fourth quarter saw only one goal scored by Lenoir-Rhyne's Goldsmith with 1:55 left in regulation to make the final tally 8-7 in favor of the Lions. In the final minute of play, Grinewich made two crucial saves to ensure that the Lions left Charlotte as the 2015 SAC Tournament Champions.
The Bears out shot the Lions 43-25 in the game. The Lions won the ground ball battle, 25-19 and won 13-19 face-offs in the victory. MHU was 2-2 on extra-man opportunities while L-R was 0-2.
2015 SAC All-Tournament Team
Mars Hill - Jake Grinewich (MVP)
Mars Hill - Hunter Maggs
Mars Hill - Anthony Malcolm
Mars Hill - Addison Sowell
Mars Hill - Nathan Stewart
Lenoir-Rhyne - Ned Kaysh
Lenoir-Rhyne - Mike Hanlon
Lenoir-Rhyne - Mike Dorsey
Queens- Jonathan Paige
Coker- John Bretton
Mars Hill will host Lees-McRae in a non-conference contest on April 22. Game time is slated for a 4 p.m. start.