Anderson made Lenoir-Rhyne pay for every empty possession
A box score robbery, but not a fluke
Lenoir-Rhyne threw almost everything it had at Anderson on Wednesday, and somehow the game still bent toward the Trojans. The Bears outshot Anderson 53-25, put 32 shots on cage, won the ground-ball battle 37-21 and took 13 of 20 faceoffs. In most tournament games, that is enough to survive even a sloppy offensive afternoon.
This was not most tournament games. Anderson goalkeeper #20 Adin Laughlin turned the quarterfinal into a long, increasingly rude problem for Lenoir-Rhyne, finishing with 25 saves in a 9-7 win at Moretz Stadium. That was not just busy goalkeeping. That was the entire game’s hinge.
The Bears built a 4-1 lead after the first quarter behind #30 Morgan Madish, #10 Donovan Powell, #57 Sloan Steward and #0 Nate Serrano. The start looked like Lenoir-Rhyne had brought the right plan and the right energy. Then Anderson started shrinking the game.
Radyn Badraun changed the temperature
The Trojans needed a scorer willing to keep firing through a hostile road quarterfinal, and #10 Radyn Badraun did exactly that. He scored five of Anderson’s nine goals on 14 shots, including the go-ahead finish with 6:37 left and the late empty-netter with 40 seconds remaining.
Badraun’s second-quarter run was the first real warning sign. He scored at 12:34, assisted by nobody but nerve, then struck again at 5:33 off #8 Cole Sparks and tied the game at 5-5 with 4:47 left before halftime. Anderson had scored on all four of its second-quarter shots. That is the kind of efficiency that makes a shot advantage feel like a cruel joke.
The Bears had chances, just not answers
Lenoir-Rhyne’s own stars did enough to keep the Bears right there. Madish finished with three goals. Powell had two goals and an assist, while #46 Jarrett Huff and #51 Eli Busse each added an assist. #3 Matthew Mancini was excellent at the stripe, going 12-for-19 on faceoffs with seven ground balls.
The problem was the fourth quarter. Lenoir-Rhyne generated 16 shots in the final period and scored zero times. Anderson produced five shots and scored three goals. That is brutal math, and it was the difference between a semifinal trip and a season-ending what-if.
The extra-man game did not bail either side out, with the teams combining to go 0-for-8. That pushed the game back into settled possessions, saves and finishing. Anderson had Laughlin. Lenoir-Rhyne had volume. Laughlin won.
What it means now
Anderson advances to its first national semifinal appearance, headed for a meeting with Tampa. Lenoir-Rhyne finishes 12-5, with another deep NCAA Tournament run and a season full of program-level production, but this one will sting because the Bears controlled so many categories except the scoreboard.
That is the nasty part of May lacrosse. Sometimes the better-looking stat sheet goes home. Sometimes the goalie across from you turns a quarterfinal into his personal crime scene. Wednesday in Hickory was the second one.
