MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Southwestern University Pirates men's lacrosse team lost in overtime to the No. 16-ranked team in the south region, the Rhodes College Lynx.
Southwestern held a 10-7 lead going into the fourth quarter and extended it to 12-8 with 7:38 remaining in the game but the defense surrendered four consecutive goals in the last 5:28 of regulation to tie the game and the game-winner with 2:21 remaining in overtime.
Both teams alternated goals in the first quarter with Kai Knight Turcan scoring two of the Pirates' three goals to end the quarter in a 3-3 tie.
The Pirates created separation with three unanswered unassisted goals scored by Logan Spalding, Zach Taylor, and Jared Welsh. Rhodes' Addison Mueller assisted on one goal and scored another to bring the Lynx back to within 6-5 but Spalding answered with an unassisted goal with 1:03 remaining to give Southwestern a 7-5 lead at the half.
Southwestern scored three of the five goals in the third quarter and two of the first three in the fourth with Welsh's unassisted goal giving the Pirates a 12-8 lead with 7:38 remaining.
Rhodes controlled the game in the fourth quarter, though, outshooting Southwestern 22-7, generating six turnovers, grabbing 14 of the 21 ground balls, and winning five of the seven faceoffs.
The defense cracked with Rhodes' Ryan Dancy scoring back-to-back goals two minutes apart. Mueller brought the Lynx to within one off a pass from Matt Perez and Christian Cisneros tied the game on an unassisted goal with seven seconds remaining.
Dancy scored the game-winner for the Lynx.
Jared Welsh led the Pirates with five points, scoring two goals and dishing out three assists. Three different players scored two goals with Taylor and Knight-Turcan joining Welsh.
With the loss, the Pirates drop to 8-6 on the season while Rhodes improves to 11-3. The Pirates will close out their regular season with two home games, facing Dallas on Saturday, April 13 at 1:00 p.m. and Centenary on Friday, April 19 at 7:00 p.m.