Falcons Fall in Final Seconds of NACC Semifinals

LISLE, Ill. – The 2022 season came to a close for the men's lacrosse team in the NACC semifinals against Benedictine on Wednesday.

The Eagles took a two-goal lead early in the first quarter.

Freshman Chase Drexler (Vernon Hills, Ill.) lit the lamp for the Falcons with an unassisted goal with 7:31 left to play in the first.

Freshman Gio Nowotarski (Reading, Pa.) followed that up with another unassisted goal to tie the matchup at two.

Benedictine entered the second quarter with a goal 20 seconds before the buzzer to take the 3-2 lead.

The Eagles jumped out in the second quarter with a pair of goals to push their lead to 5-2.

Senior Keijo Day (Esko, Minn.) took matters into his own hands with an unassisted goal five minutes into the quarter to cut to within two.

Nowotarski netted his second of the contest off an assist from fellow freshman Pat Ryan (Western Springs, Ill.)

Sophomore Adam Verner (Portage, Mich.) tied things at five with an unassisted goal with 2:18 left in the half.

Nowotarski started off the third quarter with his third goal of the afternoon to take the 6-5 lead one minute into the half.

Benedictine answered with a goal of their own three minutes later.

Pat Ryan netted his first goal and second point of the afternoon to take the lead back from the Red and White.

Benedictine didn't let the Falcons pull away too far with a goal that notched things at seven.

Keijo Day netted a pair of unassisted goals to push the Falcons to their biggest lead of the matchup with a two-goal lead at 9-7.

The Eagles cut the deficit to one heading into the fourth quarter with a goal to end the third.

The final frame started with a game-tying goal from Benedictine on a man-up opportunity.

Drexler found Day in front of the net to take the lead once again at 10-9.

The Eagles took the lead and didn't give it back up with a pair of goals to take the 11-10 lead.

Pat Ryan pushed his way to the front of the goal and slid one past the netminder to tie the matchup at 11.

A late push by Benedictine to avoid overtime was seconds away from being thwarted by the Falcon offense before the Eagles found a small opening in the net to slide in the game-winning goal with 12 seconds left in the game.

Day led the Falcon offense with four goals on eight shots.  

Junior Noah Brandt (Owatonna, Minn.) won 13 of 25 faceoffs and picked up six ground balls.

Junior goaltender Adam Nichols (Meridian, Idaho) collected 12 saves for the Falcon defense.

The Blue and White finish the season with a 10-7 overall record and a 6-2 conference record.