Montgomery, AL - The Southern Virginia men's lacrosse team made the long trip to Alabama for their final contest of the regular season. They faced off against the Hawks of Huntingdon College, taking care of business on the road in a 25-5 victory.
Heading into the regular season finale, the Knights had already locked up home field advantage for the first round of the USA South Tournament. The scene to come would simply be icing on the cake. Zak Sullivan's early tally just under a minute into the first quarter proved that it would be an afternoon filled with goals for the Southern Virginia attackers. With 4:25 remaining in the first frame, the Hawks scored to make it 5-2, but that would be the closest they'd get to the Knights the rest of the contest. Ben Sluga and Porter Wells scored two more goals to bring Southern Virginia into the second quarter with a five goal advantage.
The second quarter was another shooting gallery in favor of the Knights. They peppered Huntingdon goalkeeper JT Klam with 27 shots, scoring on 10 of them to blow things open for good. Porter Wells was not to be reckoned with and made sure that he would enter the postseason on a high note, he scored six of his nine goals in the first half and formed a formidable duo with Tyson Mauri who loaded up on points as well. Forrest Ambridge had a career game by scoring his first two collegiate goals, the first by scooping up a ground ball after Clay Haacke found the post, taking matters into his own hands. The Knights were fully in charge by halftime, leading 17-4.
Southern Virginia was in cruise control the rest of the way, scoring just eight more goals but only surrendering one. Michael Brown led the defense again with 5 caused turnovers and 8 ground balls. Zak Sullivan, JT Cutrer and Isaac Finley also chipped in with a couple of caused turnovers each. Tyson Mauri and Porter Wells led the way with 11 points, the aforementioned Wells being particularly dangerous as he recorded 19 shots on goal, tied with Clay Haacke for the team lead. Jayden Arnold and Bosten Schilleman combined to go 26 for 34 on face offs to dominate in that category.
With the win, Southern Virginia bids farewell to the regular season and will enter the USA South Tournament as the #3 seed. They'll face the Greensboro College Pride in the first round on their home turf at Knights Stadium on Tuesday, April 30th with a chance to clinch a berth in the semifinal rounds hosted by the regular season champions, Pfeiffer University. Southern Virginia defeated the Pride in their lone regular season matchup, 16-5, and have won five in a row against them dating back to 2016.
For the most up-to-date details and information on the team, follow @knight_mlax and visit knightathletics.com for live stats and streaming options.
