Indiana Tech fends off late Concordia rally to win WHAC Tournament in OT

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - (Box Score)The top two seeds in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) met on the campus of Concorida on Saturday afternoon and delivered an epic thriller of a match to crown a champion. As anticipated, it was a back-and-forth affair with a number of twists and turns, but ultimately #2 Indiana Tech was able to fend off a furious late push from top-seeded Concordia to pick up the overtime victory and win its fifth consecutive WHAC Tournament title. The win followed the script from a season ago when Concordia went undefeated in regular season to claim the conference title, then Indiana Tech earned the upset win in the finals to claim the tournament crown. With the win, the Warriors overtake Davenport for the most tournament wins in WHAC history with five.

Concordia drew first blood, when Sam Saje found the net just seven seconds into play. Indiana Tech tied it up on a Cooper Musseman goal five minutes later and the two would each score one more time to end the first period knotted up at two. Concordia created some breathing room for itself early in the second with goals from Evan Stuart and Andrew Simmons to make it 4-2., With five minutes left to play in the half, Concordia led 5-3, but Indiana Tech scored two unanswered goals from Jake Deacon and Josh Bramley to send it to the half tied 5-5. 

The second half proved to be the tale of two quarters. Indiana Tech came out of the gates hot, scoring five unanswered goals to hold a 10-5 advantage heading into the fourth. The host Cardinals never backed down, holding Tech to just one goal in the fourth and scoring six of their own, including four unanswered. They forced overtime when Hunter McCarty scored an unassisted goal with just nine seconds left to extend the game. 

The final blow came 3:04 into overtime when Josh Bramley scored his game-leading fourth goal of the afternoon, the game winner, to seal the deal for the Warriors. 

Indiana Tech earns the WHAC's automatic bid to NAIA Men's Lacrosse Invitational in Savannah, Ga. May 8-11. Concordia, the #6 ranked team in the NAIA, will hope to earn an at-large bid into the tournament. 

All-Time Tournament Champions

2013: Davenport
2014: Davenport
2015: Davenport
2016: Davenport
2017: Lourdes
2018: Madonna
2019: Indiana Tech
2020: No Tournament - COVID
2021: Indiana Tech
2022: Indiana Tech
2023: Indiana Tech
2024: Indiana Tech