ORANGEBURG, NY (May 3, 2025) - Georgian Court Men's Lacrosse was down early, but certainly not out. An historic 5-0 run in the third quarter of the 2025 CACC Tournament Championship game fueled GCU to what proved to be a 9-8 victory over Wilmington, handing the Lions their third CACC Tournament Championship in program history. 

The win is also historic in that it means Georgian Court's season is not over. They receive the first-ever CACC automatic bid to the national tournament, beginning Wednesday, May 7.

How it Happened
• A look at the box score shows the game favored Wilmington.
• The Wildcats won more faceoffs, 12-9, turned the ball over less, 22-19, and took more shots, 49-29.
• One of the biggest differences though was Lions goalkeeper Vincent Burkhart, the Tournament MVP. Bridges was under file all day and made 18 saves in the win.
1st Quarter
• The opening quarter was played very conservatively, with neither team looking to make a mistake early.
• Burkhart made four saves in the period, which is more one save than total goals scored.
• Nearly nine minutes passed before the first goal. That came from Brodie Seaborn following a Burkhart save.
• Wilmington finally beat Burkhart, and tied the game at one with 4:33 to play.
• Wih less than a minute to go, a turnover gave GCU possession. Harrison Jordan fired and scored and the Lions led 2-1 after one.
2nd Quarter
• Wilmington seemed to get going in the second.
• They scored just 27 seconds in to tie the game at two.
• That was the start of a 5-0 Wildcat run.
• A goal with 3:46 to play in the half put Wilmington up 6-2, the largest lead of the game.
• Georgian Court took some momentum into the half though. With less than a minute remaining, GCU took a 30-second penalty.
• Burkhart made a save and Max Dennington's ground ball pickup gave GCU possession. 
• The Lions raced down the other end of the field after killing the penalty and Tyler Burns scored with 20 seconds left to cut the lead down to 6-3 at intermission.
3rd Quarter
• Brett Bridges made it a 6-4 game scoring 51 seconds into the third.
• Bridges again, after a blocked shot made it one-goal game, 6-5, getting an assist from Seaborn.
• The goals kept coming for Georgian Court. They used a 5-0 run in the first 6:28 of the third to reclaim the lead.
• Seaborn tied the game at six and Doug Mackenzie gave them the lead back, 7-6.
• A Wilmington turnover led to Matt Dorrian scoring and Wilmington needed a timeout suddenly trailing 8-6.
• After the timeout, Burkhart made two more saves, and GCU was up a pair, 8-6, heading to the fourth.
4th Quarter
• The Wildcats made it a one-goal game 46 seconds into the fourth.
• The Lions continued to lead until the middle of the quarter when Wilmington found the equalizer with 8:18 to play.
• After what the Lions saw in the semifinals with Chestnut Hill tying the game with four seconds left, 8:18 was an eternity.
• As it turned out, GCU needed just 68 seconds to break the tie. A faceoff violation gave GCU possession and Bridges found Joe Zerr who hit the back of the net with what proved to be the game-winner.
• There was still 7:10 left to play, and even though Wilmington got off four shots the rest of the game, none of them were on target.
• With less than 45 seconds to play, Joe Murphy caused a turnover to give possession back to the Lions.
• GCU tried to run out the clock, but failed to clear the timeline. With 23 seconds left the defense buckled down one final time, not allowing Wilmington to clear and the final buzzer sounded on a 9-8 GCU win. 

Lion Stat Leaders
• The game belonged to Burkhart who made 18 saves to earn the win.
• Brett Bridges and Brodie Seaborn each scored four points with two goals and two assists. They also eached picked up three ground balls and caused a turnover.
• Harrison Jordan had two points with a goal and an assist.
• Daniel Devitt won nine faceoffs with four ground balls.
• Max Dennington caused two turnovers and picked up seven ground balls.
• Joe Murphy caused two turnovers as well and picked up four ground balls.

For the Wildcats
• Daniel Flynn made eight saves in net.
• CACC Player of the Year Andrew Dzubak was held in check scoring two goals with one assist.
• Toby Templeton had a goal and an assist.
• Connor Widmer was 12-20 on faceoffs with six ground balls.
• Tyler Quinn picked up eight ground balls.
• Brady Frys caused two turnovers with three ground balls.

News and Notes
• This is the Lions third CACC Tournament Championship in program history and first since the 2019 season.
• The win means Georgian Court is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Regional Tournament next week, which will be their first in program history.
• The 12 wins this season match a program record for single-season wins.
• Georgian Court now takes the all-time lead in the series, 6-5.
• Brett Bridges scored his 200th career point, the first 200 point scorer in Lions history. 
• Following the tournament, Vincent Burkhart was named the Tournament MVP. Brett Bridges, Daniel Devitt, Joe Murphy and Joe Zerr made the All-Tournament Team. 

Up Next
• Georgian Court plays again this Wednesday, May 7 in the opening round of the NCAA North Regional Championship. They'll find out the who, what, and where for their next game an opponent Sunday night, May 4 at 7:30 pm on the NCAA selection show.