Historic Season Comes to an End at the NAIA Finals

Savannah, GA - Reinhardt Men's Lacrosse had had a brilliant season carrying an undefeated record of 16-0 (9-0 AAC) into the NAIA Championship Game.  The scheduled opponent was Keiser University who were looking to repeat from last year's lacrosse championship.  The two teams met twice before meeting in the NAIA Finals - once in the regular season and once in the AAC Championship Game. The Eagles won both of those games fairly easily - especially the AAC Finals where the Eagles won by a whopping ten goals.  It is often said that beating a team three times in a single season is one of the hardest things to do in sports and that would come into play in Saturday's championship game.  Reinhardt would lose their late-game lead to allow the Seahawks comeback to win the NAIA Finals, 12-11.

Keiser tied the game at the five-minute mark and they got the game-winner with just forty-three seconds left in the game.  It was truly a heartbreaker for the Eagles and its fans who had a feeling that the championship game was theirs.  The #1 ranked Eagles were the best team in NAIA Lacrosse the whole season up until the final five minutes of the final game.

The Seahawks led 2 to 1 after the first quarter and both squads added three goals in the second going into the halftime break with Keiser leading 5-4.  The Eagles would storm back in the third quarter outscoring Keiser 4 goals to 1 and taking a nice 8-6 lead. Keiser would kick things into gear in the fourth netting 6 goals to the Eagles' 3 goals.  It allowed Keiser to catch Reinhardt and eventually take the final lead of the contest and give the devastating blow to Eagle Nation.

Keiser was able to keep Reinhardt's leading attackers from creating their normal damage in goal-scoring for this final game. JR Sess, Brady Hanak, and Cameron Cochran were only able to get two goals total between the three.  Sess and Hanak were able to get one goal each in the game.  Ethan Lux led the way for the Eagles scoring 3 goals. He was followed by Benji Shackleford and Carter Maurice with 2 goals each.

Goalkeeper Liam Wright ended up with 18 saves in the game on 30 shots by Keiser.

It's an unfortunate outcome for the Eagles after having such a great season.  Reinhardt didn't play their best, however, it was not a bad performance at all and the fourth quarter ended up being the difference in their season.  The end of seasons are always difficult as you say goodbye to players graduating and moving on and the team looks to the future for what they might can do next season. If you look back on this group of senior's careers - they have accomplished a lot.  They have a National Championship to their name and a few conference tournament championships.  They have accumulated tons of wins to very few losses and are one of the most consistent lacrosse programs in the NAIA.  You always think what could have been in these situations - but if you step back and look at the bigger picture - this team has done a tremendous job carrying on the legacy of Reinhardt Men's Lacrosse.

JR Sess was the only member of the team to make the NAIA All-Tournament team.  Below is the list of all the selections.

2024 NAIA All-Tournament Team:

Tournament MVP: Lucas Green, goalie, Keiser (Fla.)

Attack – Ryan Rundle, Keiser (Fla.)
Attack – Chase Jackson, Webber (Fla.)
Attack – Vincent Cerasuolo, Keiser (Fla.)
Midfield – JR Sess, Reinhardt (Ga.)
Midfield – Keegan Hufford, Keiser (Fla.)
Midfield – Braeden Niemy, Keiser (Fla.)
Defense – Dane Fasano, Webber (Fla.)
Defense – Jackson Marshall, Keiser (Fla.)
Defense – Gabe Schwaiger, Cumberlands (Ky.)
Defensive Midfielder – Noah Sorenson, Concordia (Mich.)
LSM – Taylor Long, Cumberlands (Ky.)
Faceoff – Chris Rayburn, Keiser (Fla.)
Goalie – Michael Toohey, Cumberlands (Ky.)