MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The Barton men's lacrosse team (5-10) fell to North Greenville (11-5) by a 20-12 score in the semifinals of the 2025 Conference Carolinas Championship Semifinals Friday morning at the Ray McDonald Sr., Sports Complex on the campus of the University of Mount Olive.
The Crusaders, the league regular season champion and the top seed in the tournament, will face second-seeded Belmont Abbey (11-3) in the finals on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Barton was the fourth seed in the championship.
North Greenville's Yates Miller (Naples, Fla.) and Hayden Moffat (Airdrie, Alberta, CANADA) both scored three times as Crusaders used a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter to break the contest open and beat the Bulldogs for the second time this year.
Barton, which trailed by just three goals – 13-10 – at the end of the third stanza, was led by senior attacker
Nic Lord (Wilmington, N.C.) with four scores while junior attacker
Nick Nelson (Wilmington, N.C.) totaled four points – a pair of goals and a pair of assists – the losing effort. Nelson led the team with a school-record 37 assists and ranked first on the squad in total points (53) this year.
North Greenville held the advantage in both shots taken (46-40) and ground balls (43-29) while Gabe Nelson (Littleton, Colo.) earned the victory in goal after stopping 14 shots. Barton senior goalkeeper
Nate Lehr (Chenango Bridge, N.Y.) also made 14 saves despite the loss.
