MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The 10th-ranked No. 1 seeded University of Mount Olive men's lacrosse team fell to the No. 2 seed Belmont Abbey College Crusaders 12-7 in the finals of the Conference Carolinas Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament Saturday afternoon in Tigervilles, SC.
INSIDE THE SCORE
Mount Olive won the opening face-off but Belmont Abbey's Kevin Mulligan caused a turnover to gain back possession to help the Crusaders put one into the net by Austin Hasen at the 13:17 mark. BAC found their momentum as they went on a 3-0 run with goals by Jack Pigott and Noah Haas. The first quarter drew to a close with the Crusaders in the lead 4-0.
In the second quarter, Mike Marto won the face-off for the Trojans. Mount Olive's Samuel Skousen was able to find Dylan Brunk to put the first goal up for the Trojans, but still trailed 4-1 at the 14:17 mark. The Crusaders responded back quickly putting another one up on the board, leading 5-1 at the 12:06 mark. Mount Olive was able to put three more in the back of the net, but Belmont Abbey was also able to score one goal to make the score 6-4 with the Crusaders still in the lead going into halftime.
In the third quarter, the Trojans won the face-off, but the Crusaders were able to gain back possession to put one up on the scoreboard by Connor Toomey leading 7-4 at the 14:01 mark. Both teams played aggressively both ways, BAC had nine opportunities to score as the Trojans had four. The Crusaders were able to to put one more away to expand the their lead 8-4 at the end of the third quarter.
In the final quarter, Mount Olive started off with a goal from Aidan Lalonde to make the score 8-5. Belmont Abbey then added another goal to push their lead 9-5. The Trojans quickly scored two goals with 7:43 left in the quarter to make the score 9-7. The Crusaders added three more goals to close out the quarter and the game with a 12-7 victory.
MOUNT OLIVE LEADERS
The Trojans were led by Aidan Lalonde with three goals each. Andrew Avarello had 12 saves.
CRUSADERS LEADERS
The Crusaders were led Noah Hoah with four goals.
KEY MOMENT
The key moment of the game was in the the Crusaders were able to to put one more away to expand the their lead 8-4 at the end of the third quarter.
UP NEXT
Mount Olive's run in the Conference Carolinas tournament comes to a close and will now see if they will get an at-large bid to the NCAA National Championship based off their non-conference regional schedule.
