WILMINGTON, Del. – All it really took was one quarter to define an otherwise tightly-contested battle between four-seeded Post University Men's Lacrosse and top-seeded Wilmington University in the CACC Tournament Semifinals. In what finished as a four-goal game, 15-11, the Eagles outscored the Wildcats 9-6 in three quarters but that second quarter was a different story in which Wilmington struck for nine goals to Post's two goals to move on to the CACC Championship Game.

THE BASICS

Post University 11, Wilmington University 15

Post University (10-8)

Wilmington University (11-3)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Sophomore attacker Ryan Denike struck for two of the first three goals that the Eagles would score, but those three goals would come around a barrage of offense for the Wildcats. Despite trailing only 2-1 after one following goals from senior attacker Jimmy Cava and graduate midfielder Jacob Herman, the second quarter would ultimately be the undoing for the Eagles in their season-ending loss.

A 3-0 run by senior attacker Logan Stinson and sophomore midfielder Tyler Quinn would give Wilmington a four-goal lead, 5-1, before sophomore midfielder Leighton Cooke broke that stretch. However, seven of the next eight goals came from the Wildcat offense around Denike's second goal of the game, propelling them to a halftime lead of eight, 11-3. Those seven goals were scored by five different players while in all seven players scored for the home team in the second as a whole. 

While junior midfielder Tim Keefe and freshman midfielder Carter Earl would exchange a goal each to start the second half, Post would look to make a comeback push which saw them cut the deficit down to as few as four goals by the start of the fourth. This was because of their five-goal third quarter in which senior attacker Dylan Heald notched two while junior attacker Robbie McGrayne and senior defender Hayden Hindman each tacked on one goal as well.

But the volume of scoring would decrease and with Denike's goal at the 14:28 mark making it a 13-9 game, Post would not score again until there was 5:29 remaining in regulation while Wilmington added on one more goal from Herman. The Eagles would still have some life when senior midfielder Brendan Kelleher tallied a goal with just under 3 1/2 minutes remaining, but Herman's fifth goal of the afternoon sealed the deal on the Wildcats' trip to the CACC Championship Game with a 15-11 win. 


BY THE NUMBERS

• Ending the season with 43 assists, Tim Keefe set the single-season assist record surpassing Ryan Denike's mark of 26 assists in 2023 – Keefe also holds the single-season point record after passing Dylan Heald's 67 points last year with 88 points this season and shot record with 152 to beat out Braeden Lockyer's 136 last year
• Scoring 61 goals on the year, Robbie McGrayne now holds the single-season goal-scoring record after surpassing Braeden Lockyer's mark of 47 goals last year
• James Sproul is now the single-season record holder for ground balls with 112 and caused turnovers with 39 this year
• Jaxon Holden surpassed his own faceoff win record of 171 last season after winning 183 this year and faceoff win percentage of 46.6% with a 51.3% finish this year
• Cole George broke nearly every goalie mark for a single season after playing and starting in 18 games, playing a record 998:29 minutes, having a 10.52 goals against average, 10 wins, 213 saves, and the third-best save percentage in a season at .549
• Post University has now lost six straight games against Wilmington University in the all-time series, falling to 1-6 in the head-to-head with the last win coming in their first meeting back in 2018