FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 1-seeded Indiana Tech men's lacrosse team advanced to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament Championship for the first time in program history on Thursday evening as they defeated No. 4-ranked Madonna University, 13-3, on a rainy and damp night at Warrior Athletic Field.
 
The Crusaders struck first in the battle of two of the top-three ranked teams in the NAIA, scoring at the 12:55 mark, but Noah Puckett tied the game up at 1-1 with 2:59 to go in the opening quarter. The visitors took a 2-1 lead with 1:30 left in the first, but Puckett tied the game back up at the 10:43 mark in the second while Chandler Peterson and Louis Czech scored at the 0:34 and 8:39 marks, respectively, to give the Warriors a 4-2 lead.
 
Peterson made it a 5-3 game just 12 seconds into the third, and while a power surge a couple minutes later knocked the lights out at Warrior Athletic Field for a few minutes, the Tech offense could not be turned off as they scored three more times before the end of the period to push their lead to 8-3, with Puckett and Peterson reaching the hat trick mark in the quarter.
 
The Warriors added three more goals in the opening five minutes of the fourth quarter to take a commanding 11-3 lead as they knocked out the defending WHAC Tournament Champions.
 
Puckett dished out two assists to record a team-best five points while Jordan Reyes had six ground balls and two caused turnovers. Evan Schuster made five saves in the cage while the Warrior defense limited Madonna to 19 total shots and eight shots on goal.
 
Tech (14-2) will now welcome in No. 3-seeded Lawrence Tech for the WHAC Tournament Championship on Saturday. Opening faceoff is set for 5 p.m. from Warrior Athletic Field.