FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The #4 Indiana Tech men's lacrosse team opened conference play with a heated rivalry matchup against #9 Concordia University on the campus of Indiana Tech Saturday night. The Warriors and Cardinals had split the previous four meetings entering tonight's contest with Concordia taking both regular season matchups and regular season WHAC titles, while Tech won both WHAC Tournament matchups and championships, setting up an exciting opening game to the 2025 conference slate! 

It would be Concordia who would have the hot hand to start scoring the first three goals of the game. After the third Cardinal goal, Tristan McKneely would win the faceoff and take it himself to put the Warriors on the board just seven second later. However, the Cardinals would close the quarter with another 3-0 run to take a 6-1 lead into the break. The second quarter would also go in the Cardinals favor as they controlled the game with the first four goals to take a commanding 10-1 lead. Ryan Tedesco would score with just under two minutes to play to give the Warriors a spark heading into halftime trailing 2-10. Tedesco would score again to start the second half in the first of four straight Warrior goals, as they cut into the Cardinal lead which now sat at just four. But just as Tech would start to get back in it, Concordia would close the third quarter with a crucial 3-0 run over the final four minutes to bring it back to a seven-goal game at 13-6. Devin Macomber and Jake Deacon would score early in the fourth for Tech, but Concordia would immediately answer with two of their own to cancel it out. The Warriors would end the game on a 4-0 run, but it would be too little too late as they would drop their conference opener 12-15. Tech outshot Concordia with 45 shots on goal to 26, but sloppy play from the Warriors combined with a record-breaking performance in goal for the Cardinals (33 saves) would ultimately see Concordia take back advantage in the rivalry. Macomber and Tedesco would each finish with four points on two goals and two assists, while Deacon had a hattrick. Macomber would also add five ground balls and one caused turnover, while Tedesco had three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Kyle TwoBulls would make 11 total saves in the loss.

After the loss, the Warriors fall to 7-2 overall on the season and 0-1 in WHAC play. Tech will look to put this one behind them and get ready for their next game in a matchup against Taylor University on Wednesday, April 2nd at 7pm at Warrior Athletic Field.