For the second time in two weeks, the Grand Canyon University Men's Lacrosse Team returned to Tucson – this time for the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference Division I Tournament last weekend, beating No. 1 seed (and No. 2-ranked team in the nation) Concordia University Irvine, 11-9, before falling to University of Southern California in the SLC Championship Game on Sunday, 16-15. After the tournament concluded, it was announced that GCU had earned an at-large bid for the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association National Tournament in Round Rock, Texas. As the No. 11 seed, the Lopes will play No. 6-seeded Liberty University (Virginia).
Semifinals (Friday): GCU 11, CUI 9
Getting on the board first and fast, the Lopes were able to keep a multi-goal lead throughout the opening match of the SLC Tournament.
"The game plan for this one wasn't much different than in the previous meeting with Concordia, (but) we just executed better," said GCU Head Coach Jeff Guy. "We spent some time looking at the mistakes from the last game and emphasized not making those same errors."
One of those aforementioned mistakes? Offensive pacing.
"This time around, we were much better about being patient and balanced on offense and looking for the easy shots," said Guy.
GCU's Nick Whittall and Cam Gilmore were surgical with their offensive approach, finishing with nine combined points (six goals and three assists) in the win.
"Nick is a hard guy to cover one-on-one for 60 minutes with the way he feeds and creates open looks on the field," said Guy. "Cam did a great job of getting good shots, anticipating what was going to happen in certain situations."
The offense wasn't the only part of the game plan that the Lopes executed effectively. Holding the Eagles to under single-digit goals for only the 3rd time this season, the Lopes' defense stifled many of the looks that the CUI got in the first meeting.
"We were able to shut down some of the normal looks they like to get offensively," noted Guy. "We also did a decent job of clearing the ball, making sure we didn't have to defend a second possession after a failed transition opportunity."
Championship (Sunday): USC 16, GCU 15
A rematch of the early-April game that the Lopes lost by one goal, 13-12, ended with a similar result.
The Trojans opened the game in dominant fashion, scoring five goals in the first eight minutes of play to stake themselves to a big lead. Playing from behind would be the theme of the match as the Lopes were never able to gain a lead of their own.
"We made a lot of mistakes in situations where we were down by multiple goals," said Guy. "Cleaning up those mistakes allowed us to battle back and make multi-goal runs of our own."
Despite the Trojan runs, the Lopes entered halftime down by just one score, 7-6.
USC widened the lead to six goals with nine minutes left in regulation, but GCU wasn't done yet.
Scoring five goals in the remainder of the game, including four goals in the final 2:19, the Lopes came surging back. Capped off by a Kyle Capshaw dunk from right outside the crease, GCU closed within one goal of the Trojans with 10 seconds left.
Lopes' face-off specialist Matt Hartig won the ensuing face-off, and GCU's Nick Whittall was able to fire a shot off from 15 yards out, narrowly missing the net as time expired, sealing the victory for USC.
"Playing fast on offense and applying constant pressure allowed us to get some easy looks at the end of the game," said Guy. "But it was out of necessity."
The Lopes now head to Round Rock, Texas to prepare for their first-round matchup with Liberty University on Monday, May 9th.
"This is what we've been working towards for almost a year now," said Guy. "Competing for a national championship is always the goal. We're dialed in.
Time to get to work."
