MEQUON, Wis. – It was smooth sailing on Saturday for the Concordia Wisconsin men's lacrosse team in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Men's Lacrosse Tournament. The Falcons punched their ticket to the semifinals with a 19-7 victory over Lawrence to improve to 17-1.
Junior Tyler Husby (Eagan, Wis.) started the scoring with a man-up goal early in the contest on Saturday.
The Vikings responded with back-to-back goals to take the lead in the first quarter.
Junior Bryce Petersen (Waukesha, Wis.) tied the game with 1:50 left in the first quarter off a feed from freshman Brayden Wilson (Pueblo West, Colo.).
The Falcons reclaimed the lead 24 second later off a freshman Blane Vrana (Monument, Colo.) goal.
The second period was the Bryce Petersen show and he scored three goals in the first seven minutes.
Lawrence cut into the Concordia lead with two goals a minute apart, but faceoff victories charged the CUW offense down the field and scored transition goals from sophomore Jackson Knutson (Roseville, Minn.) and senior Frank Trewyn (Mukwonago, Wis.).
The Vikings found the net once again, but the Petersen show closed the quarter with two more goals, finishing the quarter with five goals.
The Falcons elevated the lead even more in the third quarter Blane Vrana scored a pair of goals off assists from senior Preston Meier (Owatonna, Minn.) that were sandwiched by a Preston Meier man-up goal off a Jackson Knutson assist.
Leading 13-6, Preston Meier scored the next two goals of the game before Lawrence scored the final goal of the third period, giving the Falcons a 15-7 lead.
The Concordia defense locked down Lawrence and did not allow a goal in the fourth quarter.
The quartet of Blane Vrana, Tyler Husby, Jackson Knutson and Bryce Petersen all scored in the fourth quarter.
The Falcons held a 65-36 advantage in shots on Saturday. The Birds held a 36-28 advantage in ground balls.
Junior Ben Birch (Grafton, Wis.) and Frank Trewyn both had six ground balls, Trewyn won 12 faceoffs on the afternoon as well, while Birch caused four turnovers.
Sophomore Nolan O'Malley (Chicago, Ill.) finished with 10 saves in the victory.
The Falcons will now host MSOE on Wednesday afternoon, with Aurora hosting Lake Forest in the second semifinal contest.
