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#4 Saint Leo’s 9 – #1 Lynn 7 in Boca Raton

Saint Leo: Redemption! #4 Lions Upset #1 Fighting Knights in SSC Semifinals

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Saint Leo, seeded fourth, upset the Sunshine State Conference regular season champions and first-seeded Lynn 9-7 on Thursday in the SSC Championship Tournament Semifinals. The Fighting Knights claimed the regular season title in an 11-10 overtime decision over the Lions on Saturday. The redeeming trip back to Boca Raton raised the Green and Gold’s overall record to 10-6 as they await the hosts of the conference championship.

The Lions held an early 2-1 lead after the first quarter of play. Lynn swiftly answered in the second, netting four goals over the Green and Gold’s pair as the hosts took a 5-4 lead at the half.

In the third quarter Saint Leo claimed the game. The Lions offense generated three goals over Lynn’s one. Matt Shand assisted by Philip Buque (13:53), Tyler Eames assisted by Matt Shand (7:39) and a goal by Alexander Culbertsonassisted by Ryan Marek (3:20) to compose the offensive surge.

Lynn brought the game back within one at 5:11 in the fourth quarter. Charlie Kurtenbach assisted by Buque ensured the Lions trip to the SSC Championship final.

Stat Highlights

• Tyler Eames earned a team-high two goals.
• Philip Buque was the Lions leading play-maker with three assists.
• 10 different Lions contributed points in the upset.
• In goal, Thomas Tatarian earned 15 saves while posting a .682 save percentage.

Beyond the Boxscore

• Charlie Kurtenbach scored in every game this season.
• The first postseason game marks Philip Buque’s first game not scoring a goal. Instead, the junior attacker assisted in three for the win over Lynn.

Up Next 

Fourth-seeded Saint Leo advances to the SSC Championship Tournament Finals on Sunday, April 28. The Lions will travel to the winners of the 8 p.m. matchup between third-seed Rollins and second-seed Tampa.

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Lynn: Men’s Lacrosse Tripped Up by Saint Leo in SSC Semifinals

Boca Raton, Fla. – Lynn University’s men’s lacrosse team saw its eight-game win streak snapped on Thursday evening, falling in the semifinals of the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) Men’s Lacrosse Championships 9-7 to visiting-Saint Leo. Senior attackman Conor Vaughan netted two goals on three shots while Dryden Brous continued to prove himself a force in the faceoff circle, going 16-for-20.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Final: Saint Leo 9, No. 15 Lynn 7

Records: SLU (10-6), Lynn (11-4)

Location: Bobby Campbell Stadium | Boca Raton, Fla.

All-Time Series: Saint Leo leads 4-3 (Teams split in 2019)

Get Social: Twitter – @Lynn_Knights | Instagram – @Lynn_Knights | Facebook –/LynnFightingKnights

STATS OF THE GAME:

• Brous followed up a 19-of-23 performance the first time against the Lions with his 16-for-20 effort tonight.
• Vaughan made the most of his opportunities, ripping the net with goals in the second and third quarters.
• Xander Cosenza also put in two goals on a game-high 12 shots, six on frame.
• Conrad Rhein put the Blue and White in front early with a goal and finished the day with six shots, four of which were on goal.
• Mikey Urso and Nick McCabe also added a tally each as five different Fighting Knights scored in the game.
• Lynn outshot Saint Leo 41-29, but SLU keeper Thomas Tatarian stood tall inside the pipes, saving 15 shots on 22 Fighting Knight attempts.
• SLU picked up a quick goal at the end of the second quarter and parlayed that momentum to the second half, outscoring Lynn 5-2.
• After winning just two face-offs through the first three quarters, the Lions claimed 2-of-4 in the fourth quarter.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Evan P. Kalish had four caused turnovers, moving into second all-time for single-season caused TOs (22).
• McCabe’s one assist ties him with Mikey Urso for the single-season assists record (24).
• Brous’ five ground balls move his season total to 161 in 2019, breaking his previous all-time mark of 145 in 2018.
• Cosenza slides up into a tie for third all-time for points in a season (47) with his three-point output.
• The trend continues as Lynn and Saint Leo have traded wins in all seven of their tilts, with the opposite side winning in each of the teams’ seven matchups. The Lions won in 2014, 2016 and 2018 while Lynn claimed victory in 2015, 2017 and 2019 before falling in the rematch tonight.

UP NEXT: 

Ranked sixth in the South Region before tonight’s contest, the Fighting Knights will now await their NCAA postseason fate with the NCAA Division II Men’s Lacrosse Championships field set to be announced next week.

*****

#2 Tampa 16 – #3 Rollins 11 in Tampa

Tampa: Men’s Lacrosse Will Host the SSC Championship Game After Defeating Rollins

TAMPA, Fla. –  The No. 19 University of Tampa Spartans defeated the Rollins College Tars by a final score of 16-11 in the Sunshine State Conference semifinals. The Spartans will advance to the Sunshine State Conference Championship game for the sixth consecutive time in program history. The Championship will be hosted by the Spartans on Sunday, April 28^th. With the win, Tampa advances their overall record to 13-5.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:


Final:  UT Spartans 16, RC Tars 11
Records: Tampa (13-5), Rollins College (10-5)
Location: Naimoli Family Field | Tampa, Fla.
All-time Series:  The Spartans have never lost to the Tars. Tampa leads the all-time record with Rollins 11-0.
Follow Us: @TampaSpartans on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

1st Period

• Tampa scored the first two goals of the contest with an unassisted goal by Luke Curran, followed by a goal from Colin White off the assist by Dylan Carter.
• The Rollins College Tars then scored four straight goals to end the first period.
• Heading into the second period the Tars led the Spartans 4-2.

2nd Period

• The Tars scored another goal to start the second period.
• With 5:52 remaining in the half, White scored his second of the contest off the assist by Chris Cox.
• The Tars then took the 6-3 lead with 5:02 remaining in the half.
• Tampa then netted two more goals.
• The first was by Bryan Wright, once again Coxlogged the assist.
• The last goal of the half was netted by White with four seconds remaining. White netted this goal off the assist by Matt Vetter.
• Heading into halftime, the Tars led the Spartans 6-5.

3rd Period

• Rollins scored the first goal of the third period.
• With 12:05 on the clock SSC Player of the Year, Andrew Kew, netted his first of the contest.
• Cox then netted back-to-back goals both off the pass by Kew.
• Tampa then scored four more goals. The goals were all unassisted by Vetter, Kew, Curran, and Wright respectively.
• At the end of the third period, Tampa took the lead over Rollins 12-7.

4th Period

• A minute into the fourth period, Jake Mosher McGraw scored off the assist by Vetter.
• Kewthen netted his third and final goal of the contest off the pass by All-SSC freshman selection, Harry Kilkowski.
• The Rollins College Tars then netted a man-up goal giving them their eighth point.
• With 9:38 remaining, Wrights cored again for UT off the pass by Vetter.
• Less than a minute later, Kew assisted Curran giving Tampa the 16-8 lead.
• The Rollins Tars then scored the last three goals of the contest.
• The No. 19 University of Tampa Spartans defeated the Rollins College Tars by a final score of 16-11.

INSIDE THE STATS:

• Andrew Kew had an outstanding three goals and three assists for UT, followed by Bryan Wright andColin White each with three goals.
• Chris Cox also played extremely well for UT. Cox had two goals and two assists.
• Defensively, Nicholas Perrot and Jack Tyrrell each earned two caused turnovers.
• Ross Dickerson went 19-26 off the faceoff X. He led the team in ground balls with 11.
• Bryan Karn logged 58:35 at the keeper position. Karn faced 21 shots and recorded 11 saves on the day.

UP NEXT:
 The Spartans will compete in their sixth consecutive Sunshine State Conference Championship game. The game will be hosted by UT on Sunday, April 28^th.

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Rollins: Rollins Falls to No. 19 Tampa in SSC Tournament Semifinals, 16-11

TAMPA, Fla. (April 25, 2019) – Entering into the 2019 Sunshine State Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed, the Rollins men’s lacrosse team matched up with the second-seeded University of Tampa Spartans on Thursday night at Naimoli Field in the semifinals.  Despite leading 6-5 at the half, the Tars saw the Spartans post a big third quarter and ultimately secure a 16-11 victory over Rollins.

The loss closes out the Tars’ 2019 campaign with a record of 10-5, while the Spartans advance to the SSC Tournament Championship for the sixth-straight year with a record of 13-5.

Leading the way for the Tars in goals were Joey Cinque and Tommy Keane with a hat trick apiece.  Parker Mosack led the team in overall points with four as he netted two goals and added two assists.  Jackson Colling handed out a team high three assists on the evening, while Ryan Dunn earned a goal and an assist of his own.  Both Brandon Carlin and Sawyer Cairns each scored once, while Evan Schimek and Brandon Portera each notched an assist on the night.  Kyle Sudol and Will Eckerttallied a team high three ground balls apiece, with Sudol winning 4-of-14 face-off attempts.  Cam Reeves won 5-of-15 from the faceoff-x, pulling in one ground ball.  Wyatt Todd, Roy Hansen, and Tommy Keane added two ground balls apiece.  Cinque, Todd, Reeves, Schimek, and Luke Sawyer were all credited with one caused turnover on the night.  In goal, Eckert played a full 60 minutes, facing 26 shots on goal from the Spartans.  The Bristow, Va. native earned 10 saves while allowing 16 goals.

The Spartans, who checked in at No. 19 on the latest USILA/Warrior and New Balance Division II Poll this week, were led by Andrew Kew with three goals and three assists for six points on the evening.  Colin White, Bryan Wright, and Luke Curran earned a hat trick apiece, while Chris Cox netted two goals and two assists for a four point performance.  Matt Vetter matched Cox in points with a goal and three assists.  Also earning a goal was Jake Mosher McGraw, while Harry Kilkowski and Dylan Carter handed out one assist each.  In goal, Bryan Karn played 58:35 minutes, facing 21 shots where he earned 11 saves while allowing 10 goals.  Anthony Caruso closed out the final 1:25, where he allowed one goal on one shot faced.  Ross Dickerson was key for the Spartans on the faceoff, winning 19-of-26 attempts while earning a game high 11 ground balls.  Both Nicholas Perrot and Jack Tyrrell notched a game best two caused turnovers.

How it Happened:
Tampa jumped out to a two goal lead thanks to goals by Curran and White within 20 seconds of each other, but four unanswered goals by the Tars to close out the first quarter gave Rollins a 4-2 edge after the first 15 minutes of play.  Rollins tacked on one more goal to start the second period, pulling ahead to a 5-2 lead with 11:13 to play before the break, but a goal by the Spartans at the 5:52 mark put an end to the Tars’ five goal run.  In the final five minutes of action, Tampa outscored Rollins 2-1 to close out the first half with Rollins holding onto the slight edge, 6-5.  The Tars came out of halftime to score the first goal of the third quarter, pulling ahead 7-5 with 13:40 on the clock.  But a seven goal run by Tampa throughout the remainder of the period put the Tars in a five goal deficit entering into the final quarter, 12-5.  The Spartans continued their scoring dominance to begin the final stanza, adding on two more to extend their lead by seven, 14-7, but the Tars were finally able to halt the nine goal run with a goal by Cinque off of an assist by Dunn with 10:13 to play.  Rollins outscored the Spartans 3-2 in the final 10 minutes of action, but were unable to overcome the deficit as they fell by a final score of 16-11.

Notes:

• With 75 career caused turnovers, Evan Schimek closes out his career ranked second in program record books.  He finishes just two behind the program’s all-time leader in career caused turnovers, Nick Scannapieco `13, who concluded his career with 77 over four years.
• Thursday’s matchup marked the second time the two teams have met this season.  Last time out, the Tars almost upset the then-16^th ranked Spartans, falling by one goal, 13-12, on April 10.
• Thursday night’s game marked the third time the two teams have met in conference tournament action.  Last time the two teams met in the conference tourney, then No. 1 seeded Tampa defeated the then-second seeded Tars by a final score of 16-7 on May 1, 2016 in the Tournament Championship game.  Prior to that, the two teams met in the SSC Tournament Semifinals on April 19, 2014, where Tampa defeated the Tars by a score of 13-8.
• Since the Sunshine State Conference first sponsored men’s lacrosse for the 2014 season, the Spartans have won four regular season championships, and all five conference tournament championships.
• Rollins enters into the game receiving votes on the USILA/Warrior and New Balance DII Poll, and ranked No. 17 on the the NIKE/US Lacrosse DII top 20 this week.
• The Spartans enter into the game ranked No. 19 on the USILA Poll, and No. 16 on the NIKE/US Lacrosse Top 20.