Ann Arbor, Mich. – The No. 9 ranked Indiana Tech men's lacrosse team traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the second time this season to take on the No. 6 ranked Concordia University Cardinals. However, this time around it would be for the WHAC Tournament Championship. The first time these two teams met, Concordia took the contest 11-10 in the WHAC opener, propelling them to an undefeated regular season and conference championship. The No. 1 seeded Cardinals would host the No. 2 seeded Warriors in the championship game after both teams took care of business in the semifinal round.
In the championship game, the Cardinals would strike first but the two teams would exchange goals through the first quarter as it would end 2-2. Concordia would start to take control in the second quarter building a 5-3 lead with under five to play in the half. But
Jake Deacon and
Josh Bramley would help the Warriors fight back with two quick goals in the final four minutes to tie the game at five just before the break. Tech would ride that momentum into the second half, completely dominating the third quarter. The Warriors would outscore the Cardinals 5-0 in the third to take a commanding 10-5 lead heading into the final quarter with three of the five goals coming from Deacon and Bramley. However, Concordia would not go away so easily. The Cardinals would get a quick two goals early in the fourth to cut the Warrior lead to three.
Samuel Bodley would put the lead back to four for Tech, but Concordia would answer right back to bring it back to a three-goal game. The score remained 11-8 for the next seven minutes before Concordia got back on the board with 2:05 to go to cut it to a two-goal game. The Cardinals would score again just 18 seconds later to make it 10-11 with 1:47 to play. The Warriors were under a minute away from their fifth straight WHAC Tournament Title as the seconds ticked down, when Concordia would come up with a last second miracle goal with just nine seconds left in the game to force overtime. Despite letting the lead slip away, the Warriors would not be deterred as they would find a way to get it done in overtime.
Josh Bramley would score an unassisted goal at the 3:04 mark of overtime to win the championship for the Orange & Black, the fifth straight for the Warriors! Bramley would lead all scorers with four goals, finishing with five points in the game. Deacon, Bodley, and
Devin Macomber would all finish with three points in the game, while
Cooper Musseman would finish with two, and
Isaiah Flores,
Cooper Langille, and
Ryan Tedesco each recorded one point.
Nick Craddock would lead the Warrior defense with five ground balls and two caused turnovers, while
Zach Spisz would pick up four ground balls.
Kyle TwoBulls would stand on his head in goal for the Warriors, making a career high 21 saves in the game!
TwoBulls picks up his ninth win of the season in goal for the Warriors as they move to 9-7 overall on the season. With the win in the WHAC Championship game, the Warriors clinch an automatic birth to the NAIA National Invitational, which is set to take place in Savannah, Georgia from May 8
th-11
th. Tech will now await the results of selection show to find out who they will take on in the national quarterfinal.
- TECH -