Eagles Claim AAC Regular Season Title with Point Win

photo by Angelina Ruiz

Waleska, GA - Reinhardt Lacrosse wrapped up its regular season on Saturday with an AAC regular season championship and a day to celebrate 13 seniors on the team. The Eagles jumped out to an early lead and never let go in a blowout victory over the Skyhawks of Point University, 25-7!

The Eagles were led in scoring by JR Sess for the second game in a row with 7 goals and he was followed by Brady Hanak who had 6 goals.  Hanak and Sess have been one and two all season as leading scorers for the Eagles and this will need to continue all through the playoffs if the Eagles are going to take back the NAIA crown.

Reinhardt outscored Point 7 to 2 in the first and went into the halftime break with a 14-4 lead.  They added 11 more in the second half and held the Skyhawks to just 3 more goals.

Carter Maurice followed Hanak scoring 4 total goals and Stefan Duckett and Ethan Lux both added 2 goals each. Duckett led the Eagles with 14 ground balls in the game - which has done most of this season.

Jason Marx killed it on the defensive side for the Eagles picking up 6 ground balls and causing 7 turnovers. Hanak also had 8 ground balls to go with his stats and Maurice ended up with 7 total.

Liam Wright led the Eagles in goal again for the Eagles saving 3 on 9 shots on goal. He split time with freshman goalkeeper Michael Scoleri who had 5 saves on 7 shots.

The Eagles end their regular season undefeated with a 12-0 overall record and 9-0 in the AAC.  This gives them the first-round bye which they have enjoyed for the past several years. It drops them directly into the semifinal game where they only have to win one to get into the championship game, but this is not as easy as it might seem.  The AAC owns the top 4 teams in the NAIA as well so most likely the Eagles will be playing the #4 seed when the semifinals are set. Currently, the Eagles sit at #1 in the NAIA followed by Keiser, Webber, and Cumberlands.  These teams are very close in competition level so the winner will have to be on the top of their game if they want to take the AAC Tournament championship.

The first-round games will be on April 20th which means the Eagles will not know their opponent until then. Reinhart will play the winner of the of the #4 vs #5 matchup.  More tournament information to come once the conference releases the brackets.