Need to Know
Score: Piedmont 11, Huntingdon 10
Records: Lions 9-8, Huntingdon 12-7
Location: LaGrange, Georgia | Callaway Stadium     

LAGRANGE, Ga. – The Piedmont men's lacrosse team won the second ever USA South Athletic Conference Championship on Sunday as the Lions took down defending champions Huntingdon College 11-10 in Callaway Stadium.

Tied 10-10 with just over five minutes left to play, junior JOSH COBBINA scored a man-up goal with an assist from JACOB WITTENBERG to give Piedmont (9-8) its final lead.

Each team had plenty of opportunities late, but Piedmont committed a penalty with 1:10 left to give the Hawks (12-7) a man-up chance.

Huntingdon fired off two shots, but Piedmont was able to get the ball back with 41 seconds remaining as ZACH CZULADA chased the ball down.

The Lions would then turn the ball over on the ensuing clear, but Huntingdon was unable to capitalize as time ran out.

Czulada was named tournament MVP following the game as the junior had 18 saves in the win. Over the two wins, he totaled 28 saves.

"He's it, he's the catalyst," head coach Tim Dunton said. "I'd be lying if I said our defense would look that good without him in the cage. He's just at that level.

"I think he's an All-American, the best goalie in the South and in my opinion, the best goalie in our league. He's shows it day in and day out. We've ridden him in 17 games this year. How he goes, we go usually."

The game started evenly for both teams, but the Lions led 4-3 after the first quarter with goals from AVERY JENKS, JACOB WITTENBERG and two from CHASE GOFF.  

Each team traded goals to begin the second, but Huntingdon then scored four goals to pull ahead 8-5 at halftime.

The Hawks would then score the second-half's first goal to extend its lead, but Piedmont buckled down on offense and started the rally.

The Lions scored four unanswered goals (Wittenberg, Goff, BRADY JENKS and Goff) to tie the game 9-9 with 11:24 on the clock in the fourth quarter.

NICK BURNS would put Piedmont ahead 10-9 with 9:22 remaining, but the Hawks answered back just over two minutes later to tie the game at 10-10.

"I believed in our guys to close it out," Dunton said. "We've shown this all year that we have fight in us. Down three at half, to come back against that team, the reigning champs, it means a lot to us.

"I'd be lying if I said it was going to be perfect and close out that last five minutes, but I had confidence in our guys to lock down on the defensive end and get the ball back to our offense."

Gofff led the Piedmont offense on Sunday with five goals while 11 Lions registered points. JACOB WITTENBERG added two goals and one assist.

With the win, the Lions will advance to the NCAA tournament. More information will be provided in the coming weeks.

"We'll take a couple days off and get some rest and figure it out from there," Dunton said.

"This is new for us and new for me so we're trying to get recuperated, it's been a long weekend. We will wait to hear where we go and enjoy every piece of it."

Inside The Box Score
-- Piedmont trailed Huntingdon in shots (60-41), ground balls (40-28) and faceoff wins (15-8). The Lions however had 20 saves to Huntingdon's nine. 

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