Lexington, Ky. – Ethan Patton scored five goals and recorded one assist as the Transylvania men's lacrosse team notched a 23-3 senior day victory over the Anderson University Ravens on Saturday evening at Pat Deacon Stadium.
The Pioneers completed regular-season action with an 11-2 overall record and a perfect 4-0 slate in Heartland Collegiate Lacrosse Conference play while the Ravens finished with a 3-6 overall record and 2-2 in conference play.
Along with Patton, Bryce Lowe helped lead an offensive outpouring with four goals and an assist.
The Transylvania offense did not waste any time as the Pioneers attacked the Raven defense on the opening faceoff; senior T.J. Toivonen zipped a shot past the Anderson goalkeeper for his fifth goal of the season to give his team a 1-0 lead under a minute into the match. Transylvania continued to increase its lead as five different Pioneers scored for a 6-0 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
The Ravens applied pressure to the Pioneers' defense into the second quarter, but a fantastic save by Michael Webb kept Anderson scoreless. The Pioneers responded with a counterattack as Evan Deskins retrieved a ground ball and pushed the attack towards Raven territory. Deskins passed the ball forward to Trenton Sneed who located a wide-open Patton for another score to increase the Pioneer lead to 7-0.
Sneed continued to set up his teammates, hitting Tristan Ach in stride minutes later for his second goal of the season as the lead grew to 8-0 with 8:39 left in the half.
The Ravens scored their first goal of the game with 4:24 remaining in the second quarter but the goal was quickly overshadowed by six more Pioneer goals as Transylvania took a 14-1 lead into halftime.
The Pioneers picked up where they left off early in the third quarter as Sneed recorded his third assist of the evening on a goal by Patton to push the lead 15-1 with 10:16 left in the quarter. The Ravens responded with two additional goals in the quarter but were outscored by the Pioneers as Transylvania held a 19-3 lead into the final quarter of play.
The Pioneers ended the game fittingly with a trio of goals from three seniors in Jack May, Kayd Aquino and Jacob Miller as Transylvania enjoyed a 22-3 victory. The Pioneers kept constant pressure on the Ravens' defense as they outshot the opposition, 60-15. Defensively, Transylvania flexed its muscle, winning 47 ground balls.
Aquino reached a significant Pioneer milestone as the senior scored his 100th career goal with 7:13 remaining in the third quarter.
Peyton Bray collected 13 ground balls and won 20 face-offs. Another senior in Webb recorded a win on the evening along with two saves.
As the number one seed in the upcoming tournament, the Pioneers will host the No. 4 seed Mount St. Joseph University on Wednesday in the HCLC semifinals to commence the 2021 HCLC Tournament with an opening face-off time TBD. The winner of that Wednesday match will advance to Saturday's championship match with the eventual winner moving on to the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championships.
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