Air Force Academy
Jacksonville
Falcon Lacrosse Downs Jacksonville in SoCon Semi-Finals
5/4/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Box Score in PDF 
RICHMOND, Va. - The Falcons are headed to their second-straight Southern Conference finals game following the 11-8 win over Jacksonville, Thursday evening at Robins Stadium, Richmond, Va. Air Force, now with an overall record of 11-5, will await the outcome of the semi-finals match between No. 2 Richmond and No. 3 Furman to determine the finals pairing.
Jacksonville put the first goal on the board with an unassisted goal from Eric Applegate at the 9:03 mark. The Falcons' Trey Lervick responded with his second goal of the season from Jack Flynn's assist in the man-up opportunity. Going back-and-forth, the Dolphins' Chase McIntyre plugged in an over-the-shoulder goal at the 3:57 mark to close out the first period with a 2-1 lead over the Falcons.
Air Force responded with two straight goals to open the second period. Cameron Carter registered his eighth goal of the season with an unassisted attack at 12:46. Chris Walsch tied the program career-points record with his first goal of the game from Grant Gould's assist. Walsch tied Mike Crampton (2014) who had 176 career points in four years. Chicquen McLean, who had two goals against the Falcons in the regular season meeting, notched his first goal of the game at the 7:51 mark to knot the game at three.
As the rain began to pour in Richmond, the Falcons initiated a three-goal streak to close the period half with a 6-3 lead. First-team all-SoCon defenseman, Brandon Jones, registered a caused turnover and converted it to a goal after a downfield stride. The goal marked Jones' second of the season along with his 22nd caused turnover on the year. Andrew Tien followed up with a rocket for his 11th of the season. With 4:22 remaining, Walsch returned the favor to Gould, assisting him in the Falcons' seventh goal of the game.
The Falcons continued the scoring clinic into the third period, outscoring the Dolphins, 4-2. Nick Hruby added his name to the scorebook with a goal from Matthew Schwartz's assist. Gould registered his second assist of the game with a feed to Austin Smith for his first goal. Five minutes later, Smith netted his second straight goal by way of Carter's assist. In the waning seconds of the third quarter, Sean LaVine picked up a ground ball behind the Falcons' cage and launched the ball across field in a trebuchet-like manner. After 90 yards of flight the ball cleared the goalie's helmet to fall into the back of the Jacksonville goal. The goal marked LaVine's second of the season. Air Force closed the third period with a 10-5 lead.
Determined to make the most of their first visit to a SoCon tournament, Jacksonville punched in the first two goals of the fourth quarter to cut the Falcons' lead to three. Carter responded with his second goal in an unassisted shot into the top corner of the Dolphins cage. Jacksonville notched one final goal before the end of the game, falling to the Falcons 11-8.
Air Force held the final advantage in shots (48-19), ground balls (33-27) and extra-man opportunities (1-1). Nine Falcons registered goals on the game, led by Carter and Smith with two apiece. Gould and Carter led the team in points with three apiece. The Falcon defense forced 10 turnovers, led by Jones who logged four caused turnovers in the defensive effort; he has 24 on the season. Trent Harper went 12-for-23 (.522) at the face-off X, battling against Hunter Forbes who has the second-best face-off winning percentage in SoCon games. Mitch Rose is now 6-2 in the Falcons' cage; he registered eight saves while allowing eight goals. Rose and Jones led the Falcons with five scooped up ground balls apiece.
The Falcons will play for their second-straight conference championship in as many tries, Saturday at noon, in Robins Stadium.
