Falcons Storm Past Scarlet Hawks and Into NACC Tournament

MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW men's lacrosse team took on the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks in a battle for the NACC Tournament at Fitting Field on Saturday, and boy was it a thriller. The matchup saw three ties down the stretch with the Falcons coming out on top in glorious fashion.

Illinois Tech took a quick lead with a pair of goals in the first six minutes of the matchup.  

Senior Keijo Day (Esko, Minn.) cut into that lead with a behind-the-back, man-up goal that brought the Falcons back to within one.

The Scarlet Hawks moved ahead to their largest lead of the afternoon with another pair of goals that put them out front with a score of 4-1.

Day cut the deficit to two with a goal off the stick of junior Jack Gromosky (Danville, Ind.).

The teams headed into the first break with a 4-2 score in favor of the Scarlet Hawks.

Gromosky kicked off the second quarter with a ball that found the back of the net to bring the Blue and White to within one at 3-4.

Illinois Tech netted their fifth goal of the afternoon with six minutes left in the half to take the 5-3 lead.

It was all Falcons the rest of the half with a pair of points for Keijo Day with an assist to senior Kyle Fuller (Roseville, Minn.) and a goal with an assist credited to freshman Max Esposito (Gaithersburg, Md.).

The battle of the birds was notched at five apiece heading into the second half.

Freshman Chase Drexler (Vernon Hills, Ill.) recorded his first point of the afternoon off an assist from Esposito to push the Falcons ahead 6-5. With that assist, Esposito broke the program record for most points from a freshman in a single season.

The Scarlet Hawks responded with a pair of goals to end the third quarter with a 7-6 lead.

The Falcons dominated the final frame with a pair of clutch goals. Gromosky laid out in front of the net and slammed through the game-tying goal with a pass from Esposito. Esposito also assisted on the game-winning goal that came with 3:40 left in the matchup from the stick of Keijo Day.

Day led the Falcon offense with four goals and one assist.  

Junior Adam Nichols (Meridian, Idaho) recorded 15 huge saves for the Falcons in his 60 minutes between the posts.

Junior Noah Brandt (Owatonna, Minn.) won 16 of the 18 total faceoffs and picked up seven ground balls in the process.

The Falcons move on to compete in the semifinal matchup of the NACC Tournament on Wednesday against an opponent who is to be decided.