DECATUR, Ala. – The #5 ranked Indiana Tech men's lacrosse team made the trip down to Decatur, Alabama for the NAIA National Championship this week. The Warriors would face off with the #2 ranked Keiser Seahawks in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday evening.
The scoring started early and often as Keiser put up two goals in the opening minute. Tech would answer with a pair of goals seven seconds apart to tie it up at two. Keiser would then add two more goals, before the Warriors countered once more to tie it at four. However, the Seahawks closed the quarter on a 3-0 to take a 7-4 lead after 15 minutes of high-flying action.
Torben Aagaard would get the second quarter started to bring the Warriors back within two. Keiser would then push the lead up to four with a quick pair of goals.
Ryan Morgan then sniped the top right corner for his second goal of the game to make it 6-9. The Seahawks would get the next two to build a five-goal lead, but Tech would immediately answer once again with another pair of goals as the scoring did not stop. Keiser got the next one at 6:02 left in the second to go back up four and then a pair of goals at 2:40 and 2:34.
Jake Deacon got one back for Tech but Keiser got one to match it as Keiser led 15-9. With the half coming to a close, both sides would finally get a second to breathe as the first half of the game had nonstop action for the entire 30 minutes with 24 total goals between the two sides. Despite the high scoring affair, Tech goalie
Sam Park would make a few marvelous saves throughout the first half, including two from point-blank range, finishing with eight in the half.
Cam Fewster would score the first goal of the second half for the Warriors, while Deacon and Morgan would each add one in the third quarter, but Keiser would take the quarter 5-3 overall. The Seahawks would pull away in the fourth quarter, winning it 6-1, with
Evan Haney scoring the lone goal for the Warriors, as Tech falls 13-26 to the three-time defending champions. Fewster led the Tech offense with seven points on three goals and four assists in the game, wrapping up the season as the nation's top point scorer with a total of 128 points, a Tech single-season record! The junior had 67 goals and 61 assists in 21 games. Deacon finished the game with five points, scoring four times, while Morgan had a hat-trick.
Maddox Schwartz led the Warriors with 11 ground balls, winning 17 faceoffs.
Gavin Niezer forced two caused turnovers and picked up two ground balls on defense for the Warriors. Senior
Kinley Hynote had one goal, two ground balls, and a caused turnover, while senior
Khiusttin Corpas had one caused turnover. Park finished the game with 13 saves in goal for Tech.
The Warriors finish the season with a 12-9 record after bowing out of the NAIA National Championship in the quarterfinals. Tech finish the WHAC regular season in third with an 8-4 record and made an appearance in the WHAC Tournament Championship game.
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