The Aquinas men's lacrosse team put up a great effort in Friday's (Apr. 23) WHAC Semifinals before #6 Concordia pulled away in the fourth quarter for the 17-13 home victory. AQ led 8-5 at halftime in Ann Arbor and held a 12-10 advantage early in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals scored seven of the final eight goals to prevail and advance to Saturday's (Apr. 24) championship game.
Friday's game was a matchup of the two (CUAA) and three (AQ) seeds in the conference tournament. In the only other meeting this season, Concordia scored the final goal with 2:56 remaining to top Aquinas in another terrific game, 13-12.
With the result, Aquinas drops to 5-4 overall. Despite being listed in the 'Receiving Votes' category of the latest NAIA Coaches' Top-10 poll, it does not appear likely that the Saints will receive an at-large bid to the NAIA National Tournament. Concordia (8-2) moves on to Saturday's championship game against either top seed Indiana Tech or four-seed Lourdes.
Friday's semifinal was a game of runs, as Aquinas netted the first three goals on back-to-back tallies from Mitch Haggart and one from Zachary Sweet. Concordia responded with four straight goals, the last of which put the Cardinals in front 4-3 early in the second quarter.
The West brothers tallied the next three goals, as Nash West tied the game at 4-4 and Walker West scored back-to-back goals in a 76-second span to make it a 6-4 contest. Haggart added consecutive goals late in the quarter to send Aquinas to halftime with an 8-5 edge.
AQ outshot Concordia 25-19 in the first half and led in ground balls, 26-17. Those numbers would change in the second half in CUAA's favor.
Goals from Sweet and Nash West made it a 10-6 Aquinas advantage, but Concordia recorded four of the next five goals to make it an 11-10 game entering the fourth quarter. Haggart scored less than two minutes into the final frame for the 12-10 edge, but CUAA responded with consecutive goals to tie the game at 12-all.
Nash West scored on an assist from his brother with 8:36 remaining to put AQ back on top, 13-12. Unfortunately that would be the last goal of the game for the Saints, as Concordia tied the score at 13-13 just 20 seconds later and would add four more goals to seal the victory.
Over the final 30 minutes, CUAA outshot Aquinas 31-14 for a final 50-39 advantage. The Cardinals also led in ground balls 28-12 in the second half for the 45-38 edge. Concordia won 24 of the 33 faceoffs and committed 17 turnovers to 15 for Aquinas.
Haggart netted a game-high six goals and Nash West recorded three goals and an assist. Sweet and Walker West both recorded two goals and an assist. Matt Conrad posted two assists, two caused turnovers, and two ground balls. Joey Fitzgerald added two ground balls and an assist.
Clayton Boerigter made 13 saves in net for the Saints. Jake Lee and Gabe Schmader each collected five ground balls, while Haggart, Matt Wagner, and Gavin Kleynenberg picked up three ground balls apiece.
