TIGERVILLE, S.C. – The Barton men's lacrosse team (8-5) put up a valiant effort but fell to No. 10 Mount Olive (11-1), 16-9, in the semifinals of the 2021 Conference Carolinas Championship Thursday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium on the campus of North Greenville University.
The Bulldogs were the fourth seed in the tournament while the Trojans were the No. 1 seed. Mount Olive will face second-seeded and No. 18 Belmont Abbey (9-4) in the conference championship match on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
The Trojans' Connor Watson (British Columbia, CANADA) led all scorers with seven goals as Mount Olive broke the contest open with six straight goals after the Bulldogs had closed the margin to 8-7 with 12:19 left in the third quarter.
Barton senior midfielder
Bodin Nichols (Brainerd, Minn.) scored a pair of goals to increase his team-leading total to 27 on the season while freshman attacker
Ian Howard (Wake Forest, N.C.) added a score and a pair of assists in the setback.
In goal, Mount Olive's Andrew Avarello (Clarence, N.Y.) made five saves and earned the victory while sophomore goalkeeper
Giuseppe Brown (Gorham, Maine) suffered his first loss of the year despite 11 saves on the afternoon for Barton. The Trojans held a 45-26 advantage in shots taken and a 30-23 edge in ground balls.
