3. Lindenwood wins its first Division II Women’s National Championship.
The Lions jumped out to a huge lead and held off a furious comeback from top-seeded Queens (N.C.) to take home the national title the westernmost women’s team to win an NCAA title.
4. Salisbury wins its first Division III Women’s National Championship since 2014.
The Sea Gulls met Tufts in the championship game Sunday, and Mary Claire Hisle s stop with 1:13 left sealed a 14-13 victory. Salisbury finishes the 2021 season at 20-0 with only four games decided by three or fewer goals.
5. RIT and Salisbury will meet in the men s Division III title game.
For the first time in program history, the Lenoir-Rhyne Men’s Lacrosse Team is heading to the NCAA Division II National Championship Game thanks to an 18-10 win over Wingate in the Regional Final on Sunday afternoon. The men’s lax team joins the 2013 Football squad as the only two LR programs to advance to the National Championship game in the NCAA era.
Senior Eric Dickinson led Lenoir-Rhyne with six goals on the afternoon and became just the sixth player in Division II history to reach 200 goals. Dickinson came in with 196 and netted number 200 early in the second half.
For the second straight game, freshman Kyle Hatcher netted a hat trick and finished the afternoon with three goals and an assist. In the Bears semifinal win over Tampa, Hatcher scored four goals (all in the second half).
Release the McCracken.
Freshman Colten McCracken delivered the most dramatic finish of the weekend, sending Lenoir-Rhyne to the Men’s DII Semifinals with 16-15 overtime comeback win Sunday.
He dodged to outside the hash marks, and with two Tampa defenders on him rolled inside to his left and scored with four seconds left in overtime on a jumping twister while taking a hit.
His teammates came storming onto the field, running around their home Moretz Stadium after capping a comeback that saw the Bears down as many as five goals.
Eric Dickinson (2G, 4A), Kyle Hatcher (4G), Bryce Reece (4G) and Toron Eccleston (2G, 2A) led the Bears offensively. Zach Bodeau got the better of an elite face-off matchup, winning 19-of-34, and goalie Noah Johnson made 12 saves.
PUSHING THE TRANSITION
Long before arriving in the NCAA’s Division II ranks, Reece was mentored by an expert marksman his father. Tony Reece was a 1983 NJCAA All-American midfielder at SUNY Cobleskill who later played at Cornell under coach Richie Moran’s leadership from 1984-85. Amidst a lacrosse legacy and years of lobbying by his father, Bryce Reece began playing with Mount Laurel’s youth program when he was 12.
“My father was my biggest inspiration for playing and why I want to be successful in the sport,” Reece said. “I continue to play the sport today because of him and others from my hometown who believe in me.”
The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Lacrosse team punched their ticket into the SAC Finals with a 20-8 win over Tusculum Friday afternoon at Moretz Stadium. The 20 goals are