Historical Run Comes to and End for Men's Lacrosse

Pensacola, FL - It is hard to image Reinhardt Men's Lacrosse not holding the NAIA Red Banner, but that will be the case this year as the team narrowly lost in the opening round to Webber in overtime, 12 to 13.

The Eagles previously beat the Warriors during the season by one goal so the team knew that this would be a battle. Additionally, the team would be going into the postseason without one of their main playmakers, Carter Maurice. Maurice missed the last part of the season including the AAC Tournament, however, the team was able to overcome and others picked up the scoring and ball movement. 

Some of the players that stepped up today were Rett Canon who had two solid second-half goals and Steffan Duckett who put away two goals as well. Brady Hanak was the other Eagle to score two to help lead the Eagles. JR Sess was the overall goal leader for Reinhardt with 3 total and his most important one came with just 36 seconds left to bring the Eagles to within one goal, 12-11. Ethan Lux would come in to score the final tieing goal with just 2 seconds left in the game.  That was their ninth goal of the second half, but the first-half slow start made this a difficult day for the Eagles.

The second half was the Eagles' half in this game as they would make a heroic comeback in the third quarter to overcome a 4-goal discrepancy. The Eagles were outscored 7 to 3 in the first half so the second-half barnstorming of goals was much-needed and truly an amazing accomplishment.

Defensively, the Eagles struggled some today - but Webber has several quality attackers that can score just like Reinhardt does. Liam Wright had a busy day in goal saving 11 from 24 shots on goal. Ezequel Ceant continued his fine first season for the Eagles recording 18-28 on face-offs and picking up 12 ground balls.

Losing is never easy for a championship-caliber team like Reinhardt, but when you have controlled the NAIA for the past five seasons with five straight NAIA Titles - the first one is always going to hurt the worse. The fact is, the Eagles have a lot to be proud of and plenty of opportunity to continue to grow and get better as the sport continues to emerge in the South. Inevitably, the other teams in the NAIA are going to keep improving and make the sport very competitive.

This was one of the most competitive seasons for NAIA Men's Lacrosse with the Appalachian Athletic Conference being one of the most competitive conferences. The competition level only makes teams like Reinhardt keep getting better because you know there are teams out there like Keiser, Indiana Tech, Webber, and others that you have to keep pace. Coach Yelkin and the team will head back to Waleska and start preparing for the 2024 season and reload new weapons to their already established program.

The 2024 season will be ready to start before you know it and the Eagles will be ready to start a new streak for NAIA Titles.