No. 10 Taylor Opens Season with Historic Win at No. 4 WIU

BABSON PARK, Fla. – Just days after earning a national ranking for the first time in the eight-year history of its program, the Taylor men's lacrosse team made more history on Saturday with a 14-13, double-overtime, win at No. 4 Webber International. The victory marked the first-ever win for the Purple and Gray over a nationally-ranked foe.

The Trojans had to withstand an early surge from the hosts and faced early deficits of 3-0, 4-1 and 8-3 before getting a goal from Will Saxby to head to the half in an 8-4 hole.

The spread narrowed to 8-6 with goals from AJ Harris and Henry Cooper to open the third and the two-goal gap held at 10-8 as the teams headed into the final period.

Taylor cut the Webber lead to just one on four separate occasions over the final 15 minutes with two goals from Jackson Dale, one more from Saxby and another from Ezra Jenkins but still faced a 13-12 deficit as the clock ticked under one minute to play.

TU finally drew even with 43 seconds remaining on a score from Saxby and made a defensive stand in the closing seconds to force overtime.

Neither team found the net in the first sudden death overtime session and it looked to be more of the same in the second until a WIU turnover led to a fastbreak opportunity, with Grant Elzinga finding Dale, who buried the game-winner to seal the 14-13 win for Taylor.

Dale's game-winner capped a brilliant showing from the All-WHAC standout, as the junior finished the day with three goals, three assists and three caused turnovers. Saxby also scored four times and Cooper finished with three goals while keeping the pressure on the Warriors with a team-leading 11 shots.

Lucas Pacer and Elzinga anchored the Trojans on defense with a combined seven caused turnovers and Ben Harrell added 13 saves between the posts.

No. 10 Taylor (1-0) will look to move to 2-0 for the first time since starting its 2019 inaugural season at 4-0 when it plays at RV SCAD Savannah (0-0) on Wednesday, January 28 at 4:00 pm.