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INDIANAPOLIS – Top-seeded University of Indianapolis won the second annual Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Lacrosse Championship title on its home field at Key Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, to become back-to-back champions in 2019.
Indianapolis met second-seeded Rockhurst University, which is in its first season as men’s lacrosse league members, and came away with the 15-14 win on Sunday afternoon. The title tilt closely matched the result from just nine days ago when the Greyhounds came from behind to beat Rockhurst 12-11 in overtime.
The defending champion Greyhounds let in the first goal of the match with just over 30 seconds gone by but was able to tally the next two points for a 2-1 lead at 12:25 in the first. It was a lead they would relinquish, however, at 10:24, as the Hawks notched five-straight to pull ahead 6-2. Both teams would score one more before the buzzer ended the frame at 7-3. Rockhurst would follow by scoring the first goal of the second quarter, but UIndy attempted a strong comeback, netting three in a row to close the gap at 8-6 with 5:29 remaining before halftime. The Hawks would hold the Hounds at 6 and get a pair of its own to enter intermission ahead 10-6.
From 9:56 to 5:14 in the third frame, UIndy mounted a comeback with four goals to tie the game at 10-all before the Hawks notched their only goal of the quarter with 1:38 on the clock for the 11-10 lead through three. Rockhurst started the fourth period scoring at 12:22 and UIndy answered with a pair of goals to tie the game again at 12-12 with 8:10 remaining. In the very back-and-forth battle, the Hawks went ahead 13-12 at 7:12 before the Hounds finally overtook the lead 14-13 with 5:30 to go. Neither team could find the back of the net again until Rockhurst pulled it even at 14 with just 44 seconds left in regulation. And when overtime looked all but locked in, UIndy had other plans. With a mere 19 seconds left, the Hounds notched the game-winner and held on for their second consecutive Conference crown.
UIndy’s Parker Johnson tallied a game-high six points, adding three assists to his hat trick, while Brian Robb was the hero with the game-winning goal to cap off a hat trick of his own. Kai Trujillo paced 14th-ranked Rockhurst with a game-high four goals, while Drake O’Neill notched a hat trick and two assists for five points. UIndy had the shots advantage 53-39 and a slight edge in ground balls at 38-35. In the loss, Alex Pfeil matched a career high with 18 saves, while Jarod Kimble stopped nine shots in the win with six big ones in the second half.
The sixth-ranked Greyhounds will play one more game next week against top-ranked Limestone before finding out its fate in the NCAA Regionals, as UIndy currently ranks third in the South Region behind only Limestone and fourth-ranked Belmont Abbey – the only team to put a blemish on UIndy’s record this season.
A replay of all three tournament games can be found on the GLVC Sports Network at
GLVCSN.com, on the iOS/Android mobile apps, or on the Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV OTT platforms. Just select the “On Demand” tab and search for the contests.
More information can be found on the championship homepage at
GLVCsports.com/2019mlax.