No. 13 UMO Men's Lacrosse Falls 7-6 In Conference Carolinas Semifinals

No. 13 UMO Men's Lacrosse Falls 7-6 In Conference Carolinas Semifinals

Mount Olive, N.C. – The 13th-ranked University of Mount Olive men's lacrosse team nearly came back to defeat the Crusaders of Belmont Abbey College but fell 7-6 in the Conference Carolinas Men's Lacrosse Championship Semifinals Friday night at Pepsi Stadium in Tigerville, S.C.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Belmont Abbey 7, No. 13 Mount Olive 6
Records: Mount Olive (11-5), Belmont Abbey (12-4)
Location: Pepsi Stadium, Tigerville, S.C.

How It Happened
Play-by-Play

FIRST QUARTER

  • The opening quarter saw little offense as both teams ended with a goal as Cody Graden prevented UMO from going into the second down 1-0 with his goal with 42 seconds left to tie the game.

SECOND QUARTER

  • Belmont Abbey opened the scoring in the second with a goal at the 10:26 mark.
  • The Trojans keeper Will Urban came up with a save with 7:01 remaining and Mount Olive went on the attack following a successful clear five seconds later.
  • Brody Sullivan found a crashing Nick Petersen who found the back of the net to tie the game once more at two all.
  • The Crusaders took the momentum into the half as BAC scored with 2:31 left and took a 3-2 lead.
  • Mount Olive had a chance to tie the game as a shot was put on goal with 10 seconds left but it hit off the post and the halftime horn sounded.

THIRD QUARTER

  • The third quarter was all Belmont Abbey as the Crusaders exploded for four scores, taking a 7-2 lead into the final frame.

FOURTH QUARTER

  • In the final quarter, Mount Olive needed to find a spark to kill the Crusader momentum and found it with an opening faceoff win from Matt Lewis.
  • Seconds later Thatcher Clark found Gunner Parson for his 12th goal of the season with 14:22 left.
  • After a Belmont Abbey clear Austin Peper forced a turnover and gave the Trojans a successful clear with 10:53 on the clock.
  • Mount Olive did not allow more than a minute to elapse before Parson found Tim Collins in the middle of the field for a diving goal to bring the deficit to 7-4.
  • While UMO was on a clear BAC committed a slashing penalty giving the Trojans a man-up opportunity with 8:13. 
  • With just over 7:30 left Jacob Ball came from behind the goal and faked out the Crusader defense with a shot fake and tucked a shot behind the keeper and made BAC pay for the penalty as the lead for Belmont Abbey shrunk to two.
  • Belmont Abbey missed a shot with 2:44 remaining in the game and in the transition of UMO taking over committed another penalty, this time a pushing foul giving Mount Olive another man-up opportunity.
  • As the BAC penalty was almost expired Clark fired a shot past the Crusader keeper with 1:52 left to bring Mount Olive to within one goal, 7-6.
  • After the goal, UMO's Cody Lykins won the faceoff and sprinted down the field and found himself with an opportunity to score, but Belmont Abbey's keeper was able to make the save.
  • Mount Olive was able to force a shot clock violation on the Crusaders and get the ball back with under 10 seconds left and despite a full field pass from Urban UMO could not connect to force overtime.

KEY STATS

UP NEXT
Mount Olive's season has come to a close as the Trojans finished 11-5 overall and 5-1 in conference and won the program's first-ever regular season championship.