Top Two Seeds Advance out of MLAX Semifinals
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - (TOURNAMENT PAGE) - The top two seeds in the 2023 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Men's Lacrosse Tournament advanced out of the semifinal round on their home fields. Top-seeded Concordia eliminated No. 4 Aquinas 13-5 and second-seeded Indiana Tech took care of No. 3 Siena Heights 12-10.
The two teams will face off Saturday, April 29 at 1 p.m. for the tournament title. The teams played for the tournament championship in 2021 with Indiana Tech taking the victory and last met on March 25 with Concordia winning by one goal. Indiana Tech is the three-time defending tournament champion while this is Concordia's second trip to the title game.
#1 Concordia (15-1) def. #4 Aquinas (8-8), 13-5
Concordia put the first goal on the board at 13:59 and doubled down with another goal three minutes later. Aquinas countered and tied the score with just over four minutes left the quarter. The second quarter belonged to CUAA as the Cardinals score twice more to take a 4-2 lead at the intermission.
Concordia picked up where they left off in the third period with three straight goals spurred by Cooper Regimbal's two. Zachary Sweet snuck one in for the Saints, but CUAA finished the period with another pair of goa.s for a 9-3 lead entering the fourth.
Aquinas opened the final stanza with a goal from Sweet, but the Cardinals went on a 4-0 run to take command. Aquinas' Mitch Haggart found the cage to stop the run, but one more goal came for CUAA when Ross Preston found the cage with three minutes left on the clock.
Stat Leaders
Goals: Spencer Guppy, Cooper Regimbal 3 (CUAA); Zachary Sweet 2 (AQ)
Assists: Travis Wright, Ross Preston 2 (CUAA); Jon Jardis, Hunter Roberts, Brady Waling 1 (AQ)
Ground Balls: Jagger Sines 7 (CUAA); Reed Chastain 4 (AQ)
Caused Turnovers: Jagger Sines, Jeff Harrison 3 (CUAA); Kevin LaHaie 2 (AQ)
Saves: Clayton Boerigter 14 (AQ); Sam Bowling 12 (CUAA)
#2 Indiana Tech (14-3) def. #3 Siena Heights (8-5), 12-10
The teams battled to a 4-4 tie after the first period as Siena Heights got three goals from Eric Csizmadia. The momentum shifted to Indiana Tech in the second period as six Warrior players racked up seven goals while holding SHU to just two.
After the break, SHU got fire and Jake Gallaher and Csizmadia combined for four goals. Samuel Bodley broke up the scoring streak with the lone goal for Tech to send it to the fourth with Tech up 12-10.
After 15 minutes of play, the score held as neither team found the cage.
Stat Leaders
Goals: Eric Csizmadia 5 (SHU); Samuel Bodley 4 (IT)
Assists: Emmett Coleman 3 (IT); Devin Plemmons 3 (SHU)
Ground Balls: Fernando Robison 14 (SHU); Tom Piotrowski 7 (IT)
Caused Turnovers: Tom Piotrowski 5 (IT); Chance Snyder, Trey Strand 2 (SHU)
Saves: Kyle Twobulls 17 (IT); Jakob Moske 17 (IT)