SYLVANIA, Ohio - Despite being outscored 9-5 in the second half, the Madonna University men's lacrosse team came away with a huge 13-12 triple overtime victory over Lourdes University on Saturday. The win moves the Crusaders record to 6-4 overall and 2-1 in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

It was Madonna who got on the board first thanks to a goal by Shane Alexander. Later, Zachary Lane found Kyle Gudme to give the Crusaders a 2-0 lead early in the first quarter. Following a goal by the Gray Wolves, Alexander scored his second goal of the contest thanks to an assist from Lane. It was Lane who scored the final goal of the quarter with 11 seconds remaining, giving Madonna a 4-1 lead after one. 

The hosts scored the opening goal of the second period, before Alexander found the back of the net for his third goal of the afternoon. Nick Conrad extended the Madonna lead to 6-2 with 9:39 left in the half. Lourdes cut the deficit in half with 1:49 remaining, before Lane scored his second goal of the contest with 44 seconds remaining to give the Crusaders a 7-3 halftime lead. 

Alexander scored his fourth goal of the game just 56 seconds into the third period to make it 8-3, before the Gray Wolves rattled off two goals to make it 8-5 with 9:03 left in the quarter. 23 seconds later, Conrad scored his second goal of the contest before Lourdes answered with a goal of their own. With 4:29 remaining in the third, Gudme scored the Crusaders' 10th goal of the night and his second of the day, but again the Gray Wolves answered and scored the final goal of the quarter with three seconds remaining to make the score 10-7 heading to the fourth. 

The final quarter proved to be a wild one, as Lourdes scored the opening goal of the period before Gudme scored his third goal with 12:25 left in regulation. Following another Lourdes goal with 10:20 left, Vince Floro scored his first goal of the game to put Madonna up 12-9 with 8:25 left. Unfortunately, the Gray Wolves were able to rally with three straight goals and tie the game at 12-12 with just over two minutes remaining. Neither team was able to score again in regulation, and this game was heading into overtime. 

Both defenses and goalies shined in the overtime period, as neither team was able to come up with the game-winning goal through the first two overtime periods. It looked like we were heading to a fourth overtime period, however Floro erased any thoughts of that and fired home the game-winner with 13 seconds remaining in the third overtime to give the Crusaders a massive victory. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 

• Proving why he's one of the top goalies in the WHAC, Jeff Varner made 19 massive saves in almost 72 minutes between the pipes.
• Lane's two goals and five assists gave him seven points on the day.
• Thanks to four goals and one assist, Alexander finished with five points. He also picked up five ground balls. 
• Blazej Cimochowski was 17-of-29 on faceoffs and picked up six ground balls.

UP NEXT:

Madonna returns home to host Lawrence Tech University in a can't miss matchup on Wednesday, April 5th at 3:00 PM from the Madonna Athletic Complex.

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