ANDERSON, S.C.--In Saturday's regular season finale, Anderson Men's Lacrosse celebrated their seniors with a statement victory, defeating the Emory & Henry Wasps by a 32-4 advantage—the margin of victory ties the biggest win in program history which was set last year when AU beat E&H 31-3 on the road.
The 32 goals are the most scored by Anderson this season and ties the program's single-game goal tally. A season-high 17 Trojans recorded a goal on the afternoon, combining for a record 22-straight goals in the middle of the game.
The offensive domination was led by seniors Ryan Bitterman (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Will Hazelhurst (Greenville, S.C.), who each tallied four goals on the day. Sophomore Kevin Connolly (Hartwell, Ga.) recorded a hattrick. The game marks career-best offensive outputs for both Hazelhurst and Connolly.
Seven Trojans scored braces on the day: Radyn Badraun (Mission Viejo, Calif.), Aiden Dixon (Forest Hill, Md.), Sean Archibald (Southbury, Conn.), Drew McCall (Columbia, S.C.), Brayden Bushnoe (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), Jacob Tieskoetter (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Sammy Lewis (Maple Grove, Minn.). Each in their debut season, the two-goal mark is the first for freshmen Archibald, McCall and Tieskoetter.
Also getting on the board for the Black and Gold were Matthew Rodgers (Carmel, Ind.), Cole Sparks (West Islip, N.Y.), Peyton Isola (Katy, Texas), Jacob Kirchhofer (McKinney, Texas), Ryan Butch (Alpharetta, Ga.), Cooper Laughlin (Wooster, Ohio) and Frankie Pagnotta (Hauppauge, N.Y.).
Anderson won a program-record 38 of 40 faceoffs, with AJ Rush (Chantilly, Va.) earning a perfect 18-of-18 mark, and Dixon going 18-of-19.
In goal for the Trojans, Bobby Devenport IV (Grayslake, Ill.) made his fourth start of the season and made two saves. Adin Laughlin (Wooster, Ohio) then subbed in for Q2 and was forced to make just one save. Freshman goalie PJ Flynn (Huntersville, N.C.) totaled three saves in the third quarter.
Quarter four saw none other than senior defenseman Chris Czulada (Boynton Beach, Fla.) channel his youth lacrosse roots and step into the cage for the Black and Gold. Czulada boasted a perfect 100% save percentage in the fifteen-minute period, tallying seven saves from ten shots faced.
Though today marked the Trojans' last regular season game, Anderson awaits the league's final day of play this Wednesday (April 22) to find out their seeding for the South Atlantic Conference Championships. The SAC Quarterfinals kickoff postseason play next Saturday (April 25).
