Joseph Marvin: Assistant Sports Information Director
BREVARD, N.C. – The Brevard College Tornados Men's Lacrosse team (5-5, 2-2 USAS) earned a hard-fought victory in thrilling fashion, 12-10, versus the Greensboro Pride (5-6, 0-2 USAS) at Ives-Lemel Family Field on Saturday evening.
Down 6-4 at the halftime intermission, the Tornados rallied back, outscoring the Pride 8-4 in the second half to take the victory, 12-10.
Three different Tornados tallied three goals in the contest. Seniors Jackson McKaig and Sean Pratt, along with sophomore Sam Duffie each scored three times in the victory. McKaig added three assists for a game-high six points. Fellow senior Hewitt Farr recorded a season-high four assists along with a goal for five total points, while Daniel Ramos and Evan Francois each added a goal.
McKaig and Farr rank second and third in the USA South Conference in points and goals, respectively, while McKaig's 24 assists rank third.
Freshman Nathan Ellen won 11 faceoffs total in the second start of his career, while Devin McCarragher (2-0) earned the second victory of his career. McCarragher tallied nine saves and five ground balls in just his second start in goal for BC.
Robert Kokal totaled a game-high six ground balls while causing two turnovers on defense. Kokal has 63 ground balls in 2019, a mark that ranks fourth in the conference.
Both sides were deadlocked. 0-0, through the first six minutes-plus of action before the Pride got on the scoreboard at the 8:18 mark. BC's Evan Francois answered right back with 5:51 left in the first quarter, scoring his third goal of 2019 to even things up, 1-1.
With 2:49 left in the first quarter, BC took its first lead when McKaig sent a Farr pass into the back of the net, giving the Tornados a 2-1 advantage.
Kickstarting a four-goal run, Greensboro's Michael Halladay sent a shot past McCarragher to tie the match, 2-2, in the closing minutes of the first quarter.
Once again, the sides remained in a stalemate to begin action in the second quarter. Greensboro broke through at the 8:05 mark, continuing its scoring run with goals at 7:07 and 3:44 to hold a 5-2 lead.
Scoring then picked up drastically for both sides. Ramos and Farr connected back-to-back just nine seconds apart to cut Greensboro's lead to just one goal in the final minute. After Ramos' goal, Jack Shade picked up the ground ball on a BC faceoff win and pushed the ball up to Farr, who scored quickly for the Tornados.
However, the Pride answered with 30 seconds left, pushing its lead to 6-4 at the halftime break.
Brevard asserted itself in the second half early, as Duffie scored his first goal of the evening just 49 seconds into action. The Pride answered back with 10:36 left in the third period to maintain their 7-5 lead.
The Tornados then rallied with three-straight goals at the 9:07, 6:43, and 6:25 marks to give themselves an 8-7 lead, their first lead since the first quarter. Duffie's goal at the 9:07 mark marked BC's first man-up goal of the evening.
Greensboro again was able to answer, as Spencer Kontoulas found the back of the net to knot the match up, 8-8, as the action moved into the fourth quarter.
After five scoreless minutes, McKaig sent another Farr pass into the goal, giving BC the lead back, 9-8. The Pride once again answered quickly to tie the contest back up.
Pratt found the goal on back-to-back critical occasions to give the Tornados a lead that they would not relinquish. Pratt first capitalized on a man-up opportunity assisted by McKaig at the 6:33 mark, followed by an even goal by Pratt also assisted by McKaig with 3:44 left in the match. BC clung to an 11-9 advantage late.
Just 27 seconds after Pratt's second goal, the Pride cut BC's lead to one as Philip Gerber found the goal.
However, in the contest's final minute, Shade connected a pass to Duffie, who fired the ball into the back of the goal to all but clinch Brevard's thrilling 12-10 victory over conference foe Greensboro.
The Tornados were able to outshoot the Pride, 43-34 on the evening. Both teams were nearly even on ground ball totals (BC 43, GC 41) and clear attempt successes (GC 22-of-29, BC 21-of-28). Brevard found its edge on extra-man opportunities, as the Tornados converted 2-of-4 compared to the Pride's 0-of-3 mark. Greensboro also committed six more turnovers than Brevard (28-22).
Brevard concluded the month of March with back-to-back victories, finishing with a 3-3 record for the month after a 2-2 mark in February. The Tornados now turn their attention to April, as BC finishes its regular season with three USA South contests.
First, the Tornados travel to Demorest, Ga. for a Friday evening battle against Piedmont College (4-7, 1-2 USAS) on April 7 at 5 p.m. Brevard then heads to Danville, Va. for a contest against Averett University (1-9, 0-4 USAS) on Saturday, April 13 at 1 p.m. before closing out its regular season at Ives-Lemel Field against the Huntingdon Hawks (8-6, 4-0 USAS) on Saturday, April 20 at 2 p.m. Brevard's contest against Huntingdon will also serve as Senior Day, where the Tornados will honor its class of 10 seniors.
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