SEWANEE, Tenn. – Griffin Peterson and Charles Moran each tallied four points, edging the Colonels 10-9 in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Semifinals on Friday night.
Peterson finished with three goals and an assist, while Moran posted two goals and two assists to go along with a caused turnover and ground ball. Manoli Loupassi added a hat trick, JM DuPree contributed a goal and two assists, and Will Kennedy had a goal, an assist, and four ground balls.
At the faceoff X, Asa Nischwitz went 11-of-19 with six ground balls, while Clay Upchurch added two wins and a ground ball. Carter Cole recorded three ground balls and a caused turnover.
Sewanee jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter. Peterson opened the scoring at 11:32, and Moran followed with a goal off a caused turnover. Kennedy then fed Loupassi for the third, and DuPree found Moran for the fourth. Centre broke through with 5:03 left in the quarter, but Loupassi answered with his second goal off another DuPree assist.
The Colonels responded in the second quarter with three unanswered goals, but Peterson capped the half with a late tally to give Sewanee a 6-4 edge at the break.
Defenses dominated early in the third, with both teams forcing multiple shot clock violations. Centre tied the game with two quick goals before Kennedy scored off a pass from Robert Freeman. The Colonels responded again, but Peterson assisted DuPree following a faceoff win to retake the lead. Freeman's caused turnover led to another score, as Moran found Peterson for a 9-7 advantage.
Centre answered twice to even the score at 9-9 with just over five minutes left. But after a key turnover by the Colonels, Moran found Loupassi for the game-winner with 4:27 remaining.
With their semifinal win, Sewanee snapped a six-game losing streak against Centre and got on top of a third straight 10-9 postseason game against Centre after falling to the Colonels by the same score in the SAA title game each of the past two seasons.
Sewanee was 19-of-22 on clears, and
Flynn Bowman, in goal for the Tigers, tallied 13 saves.
Sewanee advances to the SAA Championship and will face Rhodes on Sunday, May 4, at Noon.
