Colorado Springs, Colo. – The No. 3 seed Centenary lacrosse team will make its postseason debut as a program on Friday as the Gents face the No. 2 seed Southwestern Pirates in the semifinals of the 2021 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship in a match set for 5 p.m. MDT (6 p.m. local) at Stewart Field.
Colorado College will serve as the host and is the No. 1 seed and awaits the Southwestern-Centenary for Sunday's championship game scheduled for Noon MDT.
Live stats and live video will be available for the match at the links below:
Stats: https://cctigers.com/sidearmstats/mlax/summary
Video: https://cctigers.com/watch/?Live=966&type=Live
The No. 3 seed Gents (2-9, 2-4 SCAC) finished their regular season with a flourish on Saturday as they scored a program record number of goals in an impressive 18-8 rout of the Dallas Crusaders on the road. Centenary completed a season sweep over Dallas after previously defeating the Crusaders at home, 7-4, on March 7.
Friday's meeting marks the third this season between the Gents and Pirates as Southwestern won both regular-season games, 19-2 in Shreveport on Feb. 28 and then 27-3 in Georgetown, Texas on April 2.
The first period ended in a 1-1 tie but Centenary flexed its muscles in the second quarter, outscoring the Crusaders, 9-3 to take a 10-4 lead at the half. The Gents continued the scoring barrage in the third quarter, adding six more goals to just one for Dallas. The Crusaders finished with a slight edge of 3-2 in the final period but the game was well in hand by that time.
Sophomore A Mark Temple (Houston, Texas) opened the scoring with his 10th goal, an unassisted score, at the 3:31 mark. Austin Gibbons then tied the score with just 26 seconds remaining with the assist credited to Preston Thompson. Freshman MF Wikenson Julien (Immokalee, Fla.) then scored to give the Maroon and White a 2-1 lead with sophomore A John Mark Waniewski (Bossier City, La.) assisting.
Freshman M/A Jordan Cook (Bryant, Ark.) then found the net twice just one minute apart to make it a 4-1 game. Sophomore MF Blake Federico (Boerne, Texas) assisted the first goal and sophomore Kyle Comi (Allen, Texas) the second. Temple struck again for another unassisted goal at the 8:01 mark to increase the lead to 5-1.
Centenary then struck for three goals in just over a minute as Waniewski, sophomore M Dario Garcia (Dallas, Texas), and Cook all found the net to make it 8-2. Waniewski then added a pair of goals in the final three minutes of the half to finish with three in the first period and make it a 10-4 halftime advantage. Comi (two), Cook (two), Temple, and freshman MF Jacob Miller (Liberty Hill, Texas) all scored in the third period and Temple and Miller scored the two Centenary goals in the final period.
Cook finished the day with a team-high five goals and added an assist. Temple scored four and had an assist, and Waniewski recorded the hat trick and had two assists. Comi and Miller each finished with two goals and Comi had a team-high three assists. Comi is tied for ninth in the conference in assists per game and leads the team with 11.
The Gents finished the match with a decisive advantage in shots (61-37) and won 22 of 29 face-off opportunities. Centenary recorded 54 ground balls to 48 for Dallas. Austin Gibbons and Matt Senter combined to score seven of Dallas' eight goals.
Centenary goalkeeper Thomas Siskron (Shreveport) played all 60 minutes and collected 16 saves and now has 176 saves this season, most in the conference, and an impressive 297 career saves. Siskron added four ground balls. Sophomore D Ethan Little (Tyler, Texas) led the way with nine ground balls, Temple had seven ground balls, Cook tallied six, and Julien and freshman D Noah Katz (Las Vegas, Nev.) each had four. Cook and freshman D Matthew Lulich (New Orleans, La.) each had two caused turnovers.
The Gents swept the SCAC's weekly honors on Tuesday as Cook was named the Offensive Player of the Week while Siskron was named the Defensive Player of the Week, as each earned the award for the for the first time in their careers. Siskron ranks second in the conference in saves per game and 10th in save percentage. Cook and Temple rank eighth and 10th respectively in shots per game and Temple is tied for fourth in game-winning goals. Cook, Temple, and Waniewski have each scored 10 or more goals this season, combining for an impressive 37. Cook is the team leader with 14, Temple is just behind him with 13, and Waniewski has found the net 10 times. Temple is also second on the team in assists with six and
The official championship web site can be found here: https://scacsports.com/tournament/spring/mlax/21championships/index
A link to the Gents' complete schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mlax/2020-21/schedule
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