Berry's men's lacrosse team led 6-4 after one half of action in Memphis, Tenn., in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Athletic Association Championship, but a 12-2 run in the third quarter allowed Rhodes to pull away for a 19-10 win, ending the season for the Vikings.
The Vikings got off to a good start in a defensive opening 15 minutes.
Tyler Banfield scored his 26th goal of the season to draw first blood for BC 65 seconds in, with Rhodes tying the game with nearly half the quarter gone by.
Noah Steiner would score off a pass from
Noah Miller with just over three minutes left in the quarter to make it 2-1.
Berry (7-6) scored the first three goals of the third quarter to stretch the lead to four. Banfield,
Wheeler Gibson, and Miller each scored within the first seven minutes to give the Vikings their largest lead of the contest. The teams would then swap goals, with Banfield completing his hat trick to make it 6-2. From there, momentum would turn toward the team in red. Two goals before the half ended by the hosts would make it 6-4 after 30 minutes, but things would turn south quickly in the second half for Berry.
Rhodes would score six goals to start the third quarter to take the lead, 10-6. Banfield's fourth goal of the game would make it 10-7 with 7:15 remaining in the period, but the Lynx would out-score the Vikings 6-1 over the remaining seven minutes of the period.
Michael McKenzie's goal would be the bright spot for the Vikings as Rhodes took a 16-8 lead into the final quarter.
Berry would try to rally in the fourth, as
Joey Cuthbert and McKenzie would each score, but the damage had been done. The Lynx (4-12) would score twice more to answer the Berry goals, pulling away for a 19-10 victory.
Nick English would go 14-of-25 on faceoffs, finishing the season with 104 ground balls. Miller had a team-high three assists and tied Banfield for team-high honors in points with four.