BREVARD, N.C. – The Brevard College men's lacrosse team (2-4) fell in a down-to-the-wire contest, 13-12, to visiting Husson University (3-2) on Friday afternoon at Ives-Lemel Family Field, closing out BC's Spring Break stretch of matchups.
Sophomore midfielder Finnegan McCormack led all BC offensive players with two goals and three assists for a five-point performance. Andrew McDonald (three goals, one assist) and Parker Corbett (two goals, two assists) each turned in four-point performances to pace BC attackmen, while freshman midfielder Gage Khayat enjoyed a season-best three-point performance (two goals, one assist) for the Mesa, Arizona native. Fellow freshman attacker Henry Konsker added two goals while Frankie Howard scored BC's second goal of the contest.
Brevard's defense enjoyed a solid performance led by Jacob Gravely, whose six caused turnovers are a career-high and were just one short of the program record set on March 31, 2017, by Robert Kokal. Gravely grabbed a team-high nine ground balls while Corbett snagged seven. Lucas Harvey and Michael Peters each caused two turnovers apiece while Jack Hicks (2-3) made 13 saves defensively.
Five Eagles scored two goals apiece as the offense was facilitated by Sean Lyne's three assists. Husson's Jacob Larochelle went 22-for-28 on faceoffs as the Eagles were able to win possession throughout the afternoon.
BC held a slim 38-37 shooting edge but the Eagles won 53 ground balls compared to Brevard's 30. Both Husson (18-for-20) and Brevard (22-for-24) were excellent on clear attempts and BC's defense forced 27 Eagle turnovers.
Husson opened the contest with three-consecutive goals through the first nine minutes of action before Khayat found the back of the net. Howard's goal made it 4-2 in favor of the visitors before the Eagles scored back-to-back goals to end the first period as Husson held the lead, 6-2.
BC's offense was more productive in a high-scoring second quarter that favored the Tornados, 5-4. McDonald scored a man-up goal to begin the period followed by another strike assisted by Gravely that cut the deficit to two goals, 6-4. Khayat and McCormack followed suit to cap off a 4-0 run for the Nados as BC leveled the contest 6-6 with 5:34 left in the second quarter.
Husson was able to answer back, ending the first half on a 4-1 scoring run that gave the visitors from Bangor, Maine a three-goal edge, 10-7, at the halftime intermission.
Brevard flipped the script in the third quarter, outscoring the Eagles 4-1 on goals from McCormack and Konsker and two from graduate transfer Corbett, as the contest moved to the fourth period all tied, 11 apiece.
Husson scored first at the 9:40 mark man-up followed by a strike with 3:26 left to play, but BC's Konsker answered back at the 1:36 mark as the Tornados drew level. BC was able to get the ball back into their attacking half and call timeout with 39 seconds left to play, but Husson's Cohen Trnka saved a pair of shot attempts as the Eagles closed out the one-goal win, 13-12.
The Tornados return to action as they host the NAIA's Point University on Monday, March 13 with a 3 p.m. start time at Ives-Lemel Family Field.
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-BC-