DANVILLE, KENTUCKY - Southwestern University Men's Lacrosse went toe-to-toe with top-seeded Sewanee on Thursday afternoon in the SAA semifinal, falling inches short of knocking off the Tigers, 13-11. The Pirates finish the season 7-10 as semifinalists for the second straight year as they will return a huge class of freshman and sophomores on this team but graduate nine key seniors.
The SAA tournament included four elite squads who qualified, hosted by Centre College. The Pirates were the four seed, setting up a rematch with the one seed Sewanee who won the regular season battle 9-7. In the regular season matchup, Southwestern dominated the face off battle and created more shots than the Tigers. However, they scored only seven goals on 45 shots.
Thursday's game started with fireworks with nine goals in the first quarter. Senior
Matthew Swandal got the Pirates on board, while senior
Jackson Strauser scored the second on a beautiful assist from freshman
Dylan Knighten. Sewanee fired back as the Tigers led 3-2 with 11 minutes still on the clock in the first.
Senior
Matthew Houtz knotted the game up at three with an incredible individual effort and off hand goal. The Pirates also scored two goals in the final two minutes of the quarter as senior
Matthew Swandal took advantage of the Tiger penalty, while Houtz scored a long range screamer taking the 5-4 lead after an eventful first.
Sewanee made adjustments and scored three straight times to open the second quarter. However, the Pirates continued to play loose and free, unaffected by the two-goal deficit as the senior duo of Matt Swandal and Strauser tied the game at seven with goals. Before halftime, sophomore
Keaten Cox diced his defender and scored a wrap around equalizer at 8-8. Sophomore
Dante Avicolli settled in with four key saves in the second quarter after allowing seven goals in the first 20 minutes.
Matt Swandal continued to dominate in the third, notching his fourth goal for a career high. The Tigers scored two straight goals before you guessed it, Matt Swandal, struck again beating the short stick Tiger once again. Following the goal, junior
Trey Pena won another face off, sophomore
Cal Stewart collected the ground ball, and Cox shaked his defender to take a 11-10 lead. Sewanee scored as both teams were tied at 11-11 heading into the fourth.
Both defenses put on a clinic to start the fourth as Avicolli reached 13 saves. After ten scoreless minutes, Sewanee scored to take a 12-11 lead. The Pirates found little room to operate down the stretch and committed crucial turnovers which led to Sewanee scoring an insurance goal and ending the Pirates season.
GAME NOTES
- Southwestern's offense was firing on all cylinders in the first half, but manufactured only seven shots in the second half as the Tigers defensive locked in.
- The Pirates also committed six more turnovers than the Tigers at 21.
- Pena displayed his excellence once again at 15-26 on face offs with six ground balls.
- The junior finished with 198 face offs won at 64% with 223 career ground balls which ranks second all-time with the chance to break the record next year.
- Matt Swandal saved his best career game for his last with five goals.
- Houtz, Strauser, and Cox each had two goals.
- Strauser finished his storied career with 109 goals, entering the top five all-time list by one goal.
- The hometown hero, Houtz finished his career with 92 goals and 124 points.
- Senior Chris Steffek finished with exactly 100 ground balls for his career and 62 caused turnovers.
- Sophomore Jake Trailer totaled five ground balls and two caused turnovers, who will be a pivotal returning to the 2027 squad.
- The 2026 squad featured 24 freshman and sophomores, six juniors, and nine seniors.
- Southwestern's experience in the SAA tournament will be integral for the squad to return and go further next year.
