Men's Lacrosse Cruise Into NAIA Championship

Savannah, GA - RU Men's Lacrosse has had two overtime games this season and they both were with the Patriots of Cumberlands.  One was a regular season game and the other was in the semifinals of the AAC Tournament.  The Eagles had a one-point edge in both of those games, but today the Eagles left no doubt who the top team is this season in this growing rivalry.  This third matchup of the season came in the semifinals of the NAIA National Tournament where the Eagles won convincingly, 16-7!

The Eagles outscored Cumberlands in every quarter of this game to get the final big lead. The first quarter was a 3-1 advantage to the Eagles and they were 5-3 in the second giving them an 8-4 halftime lead, however, the four-point lead was not safe.  Both teams have shown that they can come back from small deficits like this, but Reinhardt would make sure that would not happen in this game.  The Eagles went on to score 8 in the second half to the 3 by Cumberlands sending the Eagles to the NAIA Championship.  It will be the Eagles' sixth appearance in the eight years of the NAIA NIT for Men's Lacrosse. The Eagles have won the championship five times (five in a row from 2017 to 2022)

Reinhardt will be going for their sixth NAIA Title on Saturday at 1 pm to face the winner of the Webber University versus Keiser University game.  All the teams in the NAIA Semifinal games are from the Appalachian Athletic Conference (Reinhardt, Cumberlands, Keiser, and Webber).  This season, Cumberlands has been the toughest matchup for the Eagles - but the winner of the Keiser/Webber game will bring their "A-Game" to face the Eagles on Saturday.

In today's game, JR Sess led all scores with 5 goals. He also added 6 ground balls to his totals.  He was followed in scoring by Wyatt Maddox and Ethan Lux who both put 3 goals each past the Patriots keeper. 

Charlie Edwards, Brady Hanak, and Stefan Duckett both had 3 ground balls apiece to follow Sess's lead. Duckett and Hanak both had a goal as well in the game.

Reinhardt and their eventual opponent both have the day off on Friday. The game can be seen on the NAIA Sports Network pay-per-view. https://team1sports.com/naia/