Gritty Jackets Grind Their Way to National Semi-Finals
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Lacrosse Team traveled to Round Rock, Texas for the MCLA National Tournament Powered by New Balance. In the first round the eighth seeded Yellow Jackets aced the ninth seeded Concordia University-Irvine Eagles. Concordia came into the game upset with their seed after having been ranked in the top five all season before being upset in the semifinals of the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference tournament. The game took place during a sweltering Texas heat wave. The Jackets jumped ahead early after Concordia switched to a zone defense after Tech backed up a shot on the endline. Tech worked the ball around and Brooks Baro found a sneaking Sam Eck for the opening goal of the game. Freshmen Asher Wagnon and Aaron Piszczek added goals for the Jackets to close the quarter with a 3-0 lead. The second quarter was more of the same with the Jackets scoring five goals while the Eagles scored twice giving the Jackets an 8-2 halftime lead. Concordia would not go down without a fight. After a fairly even first half at the face off dot, Concordia took over in the second half. The faceoff disparity and some lackadaisical clearing gave Concordia a significant possession advantage which the Eagles used to claw their way back. The third quarter ended with the Jackets lead down to 9-6. The Jacket offense found their way again early in the fourth quarter when Devin Raun fed freshman Nick Eliacin for a goal on the crease. Concordia kept fighting and made their way back piece by piece as the fourth quarter wore on. With just over two minutes remaining the Eagles tied the game at 11. With both teams fighting to keep their seasons alive the final two minutes of the game were hard fought with effort plays all over the field. The Eagles got possession and called a timeout. The Eagles took a shot off of a two man game behind the goal, but Gino Pagliaro was up to the task and turned the shot away and got the ground ball. The Jackets cleared the ball and called timeout with 37 seconds remaining in the game. The Jackets offense came out calm and focused on the task at hand. Ater a couple passes at the top of the box, Sam Eck dodged on his man as the Eagles shut off the adjacent players. Eck took advantage of the extra space and got to the middle of the field before firing home a shot that found the net to give the Jackets a 12-11 lead with seven seconds remaining. The Eagles won the ensuing faceoff, but the Jacket defense stayed home and gave the faceoff man nowhere to go with the ball and the game ended with the Jackets on top.
The next day the Yellow Jackets faced off against the top seed in the tournament and a familiar foe in the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Hokies entered the game as the unanimous number one team in the most recent MCLA poll and had just won the American Lacrosse Conference tournament. The Jackets came into the game with energy and focus. The Jackets struck first when Asher Wagnon wove his way to the middle of the field before sending home a shot. A few minutes later the Jackets rode the ball back and Devin Raun won a tough ground ball and fed Max Lucas for a goal in transition. The Hokies got on the board shortly thereafter and let the Jackets hear about it. Brooks Baro answered, scoring a goal on an endline action. A few minutes later Wagnon would weave his way to the crease again for his second goal of the day giving the Jackets a three goal lead. After two Hokie goals, Curran Myers scored in transition after collecting a rebound off of his own shot before finding the net. The Hokies would score once more to make the score 5-4 after the first quarter. The Hokies would score on an extra man opportunity to tie the game early in the second quarter. The Hokies switched to a zone defense to try to slow down the Yellow Jackets but the result was the same as Max Lucas found Wagnon cutting and the freshman notched a hat trick for the day. The scoring slowed down as the teams slugged it out through the next eight minutes before Wagnon found Baro on an extra man opportunity and Baro sent a laser into the top corner for the 7-5 lead. The Hokies scored once more to make the score 7-6 at halftime. The Jacket defense locked down in the third quarter and held the potent Hokie offense to no goals. Nick Eliacin and Sam Eck found the net themselves to give the Jackets a 9-6 lead after three quarters. Early in the fourth quarter Nick Eliacin won a ground ball against two Hokies behind the goal and turned the corner and scored a goal for the Jackets as the bench erupted. The next three goals came from the Hokies as their offense found their footing bringing the score to 10-9. Wagnon would once again answered the bell for the Jackets and scored his fourth goal of the game to put the Jackets ahead 11-9. The Hokies would score once more with just over a minute remaining. The Jackets won the ensuing faceoff and were able to kill some clock before the Hokies forced a turnover. As the Hokies tried to clear the ball, the Jackets forced the Hokie goaltender into a turnover, stepping back into the crease. The Hokies pressed out trying to get the ball back but the Jackets killed some clock and drew multiple flags on the Hokies and were able to seal the win. The Jackets advance the semi-finals on Thursday May 12 against the Clemson Tigers, one of the three teams to defeat the Jackets this season. BYU and South Carolina Round out the bracket.
