Sending off the seniors in style.
Sitting just outside the top four in the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference standings with the playoffs looming, the Grand Canyon University Men's Lacrosse Team kept their postseason hopes alive by beating No. 11 Arizona State University, 10-5, Saturday night in their home finale at GCU Soccer Stadium. The win moved the Lopes up to 6-4, while the Sun Devils dropped to 7-5.
ASU attackman Jack Rogers got the action started quickly, scoring a minute into the match after a GCU defensive miscommunication left him unchecked. The Lopes' offense then took over, rattling off five unanswered goals to take a commanding lead midway through the second quarter.
ASU scored its second goal, but GCU senior Griffin Rodas shot back quickly in a man-up situation to give the Lopes a 6-2 edge as the halftime buzzer sounded.
A scoreless 3rd quarter from the Lopes allowed ASU to get within three, but GCU's Cam Gilmore and Nick Whittall both scored early in the fourth to stifle any ASU momentum. Gilmore then scored his hat-trick goal of the match in an unconventional fashion, scoring right before the shot clock expired.
"I heard the sideline counting down and knew I had to do whatever I could to get a shot on goal," laughed Gilmore.
The Sun Devils added two scores late, but couldn't run down Rodas, who literally ran out the clock to ice the win.
"Everyone sacrifices something for the team, and I'm willing to sacrifice my body to go out there and run," said Rodas. "Knowing that guys get tired at this point in the year, we work really hard for moments like this."
GCU Head Coach Jeff Guy knows there's room to improve but liked much of what he saw out of his team.
"Keep the ball away from the other team and they can't score," said Guy. "Sometimes it's that simple. (ASU) is very skilled offensively, so the way our defense was able to contest every ground ball and earn extra possessions, the way Matt Hartig was able to earn us extra offensive touches, I thought we did really well."
Rodas, long-stick midfielder Matt Savinon, midfielder Evan Siegel, and goalie John Tibbetts were the four GCU seniors recognized before the game began. Each got to share a moment with their loved ones and their coach prior to the starting lineups being announced.
The Lopes now take a week off from scheduled games before they make the trip down to Tucson to take on the University of Arizona on April 23 to end the regular season schedule.
