GEORGETOWN, Texas – The Pirates men's lacrosse team trailed most of the game but scored five unanswered goals to close out a 7-5 win over Birmingham Southern College on Monday evening.
Jackson Timian started Southwestern out on the right foot with a goal less than two minutes into the game, assisted by Michael Villa. BSC controlled the rest of the period, however, as they punched home three goals in the final seven minutes to lead 3-1 after the first.
Carter Cowan closed the gap with an unassisted goal to open the second quarter, but BSC pushed their lead back to two, 4-2, with a goal just before halftime.
The Panthers were the first on the board in the second half as Matt Musser scored with 9:31 to play in the frame, cushioning their lead ever so slightly 5-2.
Southwestern refused to lie down, however, and steadily built up steam the rest of the game. Michael Villa started the rally as he gathered Connor Koper's pass from behind the net and dove towards the goal, punching it home to pull SU back within two, 5-3.
With 2:38 on the clock, Cowan scored his second goal of the game, assisted by Tyler Downing, and brought the Pirates within one, 4-5, to close the third quarter.
Downing got on the scoring end as he barreled his way through the Panther defense, scoring the equalizer 5-5 with ten minutes to play in the game. Austin Fox and Alex Michael teamed up for a beautiful quick passing goal to give SU the lead 6-5, finally converting on a man-up opportunity in the second half.
Timian gave SU some breathing room with 3:27 to play as he scored again, this time unassisted, to bookend the game in goals and give the Pirates the 7-5 win.
Southwestern narrowly won the shot count 27-23 after trailing 16-8 at halftime, and committed one fewer turnover 22-21. BSC collected 29 ground balls while the Pirates posted 27 and the teams split faceoffs nearly evenly on the night, 8-7.
Timian and Cowan both posted two goals in the win for SU while Zach Finger was huge defensively for the Pirates with four ground balls and five caused turnovers. Charlie Fisher recorded his second win in goal in as many starts with nine saves on 14 shots. BSC's Thomas Grove led the Panthers with two goals.
Southwestern improves to 5-2 on the year with the win while BSC falls to 3-4. The Pirates return to the road to face Babson College in a neutral-site contest hosted by Colorado College on Friday, March 21st at 1 p.m. MST.