BREVARD, N.C. - The Brevard College Men's Lacrosse Team (2-14, 0-8 SAC) fell in their final game of the season to Mars Hill (6-7, 2- SAC) by a score of 14-11 on Saturday night.
Senior Ryan Taylor (Mill Bay, British Columbia) had a great final performance, dishing out a game-high six assists for the blue and white. Taylor also scooped up four ground balls during the contest. Jackson McKaig (Gainesville, Fla.) led the Tornados in scoring with four goals. McKaig was also credited with an assist. Kyle Hunziker (Gainesville, Fla.) and David Buono (Bethany, Conn.) scored a pair of goals for Brevard. While senior s Mathew Dropuljic (Brampton, Ontario), Nick Bier (Cumming, Ga.) and sophomore Hewitt Farr (Santa Fe, N.M.) each added a goal to the Tornados' total.
The Lions were led by Dima Ferreira who scored four goals. Ferreira also added four assists during the contest. Hunter Maggs completed the hat trick with three goals. Conner Fernandes added a pair of goals for Mars Hill.
Freshman goalie Chris Stallings (Bel Air, Md.) played all 60 minutes in goal for the Tornados. Stallings allowed 14 goals while coming away with eight saves.
Senior Dennis Rammacher (Derby, N.Y.) caused three Lions' turnovers during the game. Rammacher wraps up his senior year with a team-leading 23 caused turnovers and is tied for the lead with 43 groundballs with freshman Robert Kokal (Monroe Township, N.J.). Kokal came away with a team-high six groundballs against the Lions.
Mars Hill's goalie Ryan Kearney earned the win for the Lions, surrendering 11 goals and coming up with eight saves.
The Lions struck first, as Dima Ferreira scored at the 11:41 mark of the first quarter.
Brevard answered quickly with back-to-back goals by Kyle Hunziker off a pass from Ryan Taylor and David Buono with an unassisted goal. The Lions tied things up at two-all before Buono added his second goal of the night. Taylor found Nick Bier to give the Tornados the 4-2 edge with a minute left in the first period. Ferreira scored his second goal of the contest off a pass from Nathan Stewart in the final seconds of the first 15-minute period to make the score 4-3 going into the second period.
Mars Hill scored on a man-up situation to tie up the game. Jackson McKaig answered with an unassisted goal at the 12:30 mark. The Lions benefited from another man-up situation as Ferreira found Nathan Stewart to even the score.
The Tornados answered to close out the half with two goals from McKaig and a goal from Hewitt Farr. All three goals were off passes from Taylor to give the Tornados the 9-6 advantage at halftime.
Senior Mathew Dropuljic got the Tornados going in the second half with a goal on a man-up situation off a pass from McKaig. Mars Hill scored back-to-back goals to cut the Tornados lead to 10-8 entering the final period of play.
The Lions tied the game at 10-all with a little less than ten minutes remaining in the game. McKaig scored the Tornados final goal of the night to tie the game at 11-all. Ferreira scored what would be the game winning goal off a pass from Josh Byers. The Lions would go onto win 14-11.
During halftime Brevard honored its six seniors who played in their final game tonight. Brendan Friss, Mathew Dropuljic, Nick Bier, Dennis Rammacher, and Ryan Taylor all made positive impacts on the program. The team also honored Josh Goldstein, who has been the voice of the Tornados all season.