HICKORY, N.C. – The Newberry men's lacrosse historic season came to a close Tuesday evening, falling to fourth seeded Lenoir-Rhyne 16-5 in the quarterfinals of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament.
 
The Wolves (10-6, 4-4 SAC) knew coming in that they would have to battle to have a chance to knock off the Bears, a Final Four team a year ago. Lenoir-Rhyne got things started early in the first quarter to take the 1-0 lead. Kyle Dunklee was able to answer back minutes later to tie it up at 1-1.
 
The Bears were able to create a spark after that, going on a 3-0 run to go up 4-1 with 7:25 in the opening frame. Dylan Mansur was able to halt the run with a man-up goal off the feed from Belton Bryan to make it 4-2. Lenoir-Rhyne was able to get a goal back before Justin Messersmith got one on the board in the final minute to make it 5-3.
 
Newberry's defense was able to play tough in the second quarter, holding the Bears to three goals on 14 shots. The Wolves though, were unable to find any offense and trailed 8-3 going into halftime.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne was bale to carry their momentum into the start of the second half, opening up with three unanswered goals. Brady Kearnan was able to weather the storm with a man-up goal, set up by Jeremy Ross making it 11-4 in favor of the Bears. Stone Boone was able to find the back of the net late in the third period to get his name in the scoring column with Kearnan on the assist to make it 12-5.
 
The Wolves did not stop fighting with the large deficit as Messersmith was able to tack on one more in the final minute of action.
 
Dunklee had a team-high six ground balls with Jacob Katopol grabbing five ground balls. Messersmith chipped in with fur ground balls.
 
Katopol was efficient in the circle, winning 9-of-11 face offs.
 
Erick Szurley went he distance in net, making 16 saves.
 
This was the final game of the 2019 season for the Newberry men's lacrosse team. They graduate 10 seniors in Stone Boone, Erick Szurley Garrett Giles, Dylan Mansur, Anthony DeLaurentis, Jared Chant, Jeremy Ross, Jacob Katopol, Dan Sullivan and Belton Bryan. Each senior played integral roles in helping build the men's lacrosse program, only in their second year of existence, and will look to build in season three under head coach Nick Cotter.