NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Augustana men's lacrosse (9-6, 2-4) took on Transylvania University (10-5, 3-3) in a neutral site conference matchup earlier today. The Vikings' loss ended their 2022 season as they did not qualify for the conference tournament.
 
Augustana's Brady Holtz scored the game's first goal in the early stages of the first period in a man-up situation. Both teams then traded goals as Matthew Clough knotted the score and Shane Forsythe regained the Viking lead. From there, the Transy offense took over.
 
The Pioneers cored six unanswered goals from the five-minute mark of the first period to the 13-minute mark in the second. Holtz and Forsythe struck again to narrow the Pioneer lead to 7-4 midway through the second quarter. Before halftime, Transylvania countered again with another pair of scores to take a 9-4 advantage into the break.
 
Transy began the second half with another goal before Elijah Graesser and Holtz got the Vikings back on track. The Pioneers, however, went on another run between the third and fourth periods with five more unanswered scores. In the fourth quarter, Graessere and John Calabrese did their best to spark an Augustana rally, but two more Transy goals were the final blow in a 17-8 Pioneer victory.
 
Holtz' hat trick led the Augustana offense. Matt Pierson also had a solid day with two assists and a team-high three caused turnovers. Cameron Duffy took the loss in goal for the Vikings with 11 saves to his credit.
 
Transylvania's victory clinched a berth in the 2022 CCIW Men's Lacrosse tournament where they will take on the league champions from Illinois Wesleyan.