GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – A dominating first half performance helped the Concordia University Irvine men's lacrosse team announce its presence with a victory in its first playoff game at the NCAA DII level.
As the No. 3 seed facing No. 2 seed Westminster in the RMAC semifinals, Concordia wasted little time asserting itself on offense.
Matt Carresi scored three of his four goals in the first half and
Nick Beeson added two first quarter scores and an assist to help CUI build an insurmountable 11-1 advantage by halftime.
Drew Buckley and Carresi each finished with a game-high four goals.
Jeremy Barnes and
Cole Crisostomo each scored once and handed out two helpers.
Face off specialist
Cade Poe added two assists in the first quarter and was a wizard on the draws as he has done all season. Poe helped the Golden Eagles win 15 of his 27 chances at the X. He now has claimed 200 face offs this season.
Aside from Poe,
Colin O'Connor led the CUI defenders with four ground balls and added a goal as well. Long stick middies Eddie McCann and
Braden Schneider along with
Connor Kuhl helped thwart the Griffins and made life miserable for the team that had beaten Concordia twice earlier in the season.
The CUI defense helped contain the high-octane offense to only one goal in the entire first half. Westminster did score six times in the third, but any chance of a comeback ended as CUI locked down again in the fourth.
"I'm most proud of how we weathered their storm in the third period," said CUI head coach
Jesse Foss. "Smart, tough and disciplined is our mantra and they played like that all game."
Junior goalie
Daniel Yang collected 12 saves and was solid all game. He improved to 6-7 in the cage this season.
"
Braden Schneider really led the defense and brought a much needed physicality to the game," added Foss. "Yang had some really big saves in the fourth quarter and Poe was dominant at the face off X for us."
Concordia advances to face top-seeded Colorado Mesa on Saturday in the RMAC Championship Game. Game time is set for a 4 p.m. PT start (5 p.m. local MT).
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