Taylor Rallies for Critical WHAC Victory

DEARBORN, Mich. – The Taylor men's lacrosse team dominated the fourth quarter of Tuesday's Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference clash at Michigan-Dearborn, surging past the hosts (6-10, 3-8 WHAC) for a 12-11 victory.

The win pushed TU's program record single-season wins total to nine but more importantly, the road triumph locked Taylor into the fourth-seed in the upcoming WHAC Tournament and guaranteed the Trojans their first-ever postseason game at Wheeler Field.

The back-and-forth affair kept the two sides close throughout, with UMD using a late third quarter flurry to open a small advantage at 11-8 heading to the final 15 minutes of action.

It would be all TU down the stretch, with Taylor outscoring the hosts by a 4-0 clip with a trio of strikes off the stick of Henry Cooper. An unassisted score from Cooper got the Trojans going with 9:53 remaining and Kaden Mast found Cooper for a second goal just over two minutes later to draw TU within a goal. The equalizer came at the 4:00 mark, with an unassisted goal from Mast, before Jackson Dale connected with Cooper for the eventual game-winner with 3:26 to play.

Cooper closed the night with five goals, with three coming in the decisive final rally, while Mast posted three goals and two assists. Will Saxby added two goals and one assist, with Dale dishing out four assists.

On the defensive end of the field, Dmitri Williams and Ricky Swift combined for five caused turnovers, Lucas Pacer and Grant Elzinga combined for 11 ground balls and Ben Harrell notched nine saves in goal.

The combo of Jack Roth and David Celesti also performed well in the faceoff game, winning 17-of-27 to set up the Trojan attack throughout the contest.

RV Taylor (9-7, 5-6 WHAC) will close its regular season on Saturday, April 25 with a 2:00 pm start at No. 1 Madonna (15-1, 11-0 WHAC), before hosting Michigan-Dearborn or Lawrence Tech (4-11, 3-8 WHAC) on Tuesday, April 28 in the WHAC Tournament Quarterfinals.