Men's Lacrosse | 4/12/2014 4:20:00 PM

Box Score FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Taylor Carter scored at the 2:40 mark of overtime to lift Piedmont College to a 12-11 win over the Methodist men's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon at Monarch Stadium.
 
Methodist (3-8) had rallied from an 8-6 deficit at halftime to take an 11-10 lead with 8:18 to play on Aaron Ward's second goal of the game. However, the Lions (6-7) tied the contest at 11-11 48 seconds later when Steve Blanchard found Frank Cariello on the crease for the tying goal.
 
The Monarchs had a chance to win the game in regulation as Justin Layden forced a Piedmont turnover, and Jaylen Robinson's groundball gave MU possession with 0:49 on the clock. With 27 seconds to play, Justin Layden's shot was blocked, but he picked up the groundball and got the ball to his brother, Matt Layden, whose shot with seven seconds to play was saved by Piedmont's Dale Morley and the Lions ran off the final seconds of regulation.
 
In the overtime period, Seth Corbin won the opening faceoff for the Monarchs, but Morley came up with another save, this one on a shot by Jake Smerka to keep the game tied. On the Lions' ensuing possession, Travis Rice came up with a close-quarters save on a shot by Branson Mikell, but Holin Axley emerged from a scrum with the ball and was able find Carter, who snuck a shot past Rice for the game-winning goal.
 
After playing to a 3-3 game through the first quarter, the Lions used five second-period goals to take the aforementioned 8-6 lead at the break.  Carter and Nick Green each scored for PC in the opening 1:03 of the second quarter for a 5-3 lead before Justin Layden scored off a feed from Matt Layden to make it 5-4 at the 7:32 mark. Blanchard then facilitated goals by Sumner Gatz and Axley as Piedmont took a 7-4 lead with 3:50 on the clock.
 
Following Axley's goal, Matt Layden found Trevor Dickinson for a goal at the 3:24 mark, and Jake Smerka scored unassisted at 2:14 to make it 7-6 in favor of Piedmont. Spence Ortis capped the first-half scoring 27 seconds before intermission off a feed from Axley for the 8-6 score.
 
Blanchard scored at the 10:36 mark of the third quarter to push PC's lead to 9-6, but MU responded with a man-down goal on a Matt Layden-to-Trevor Dickinson connection once again to make it 9-7. Ben Click added an unassisted goal to pull MU within a goal at 9-8, and Ortis and Justin Layden traded goals in the final 3:00 of the period to put it at 10-9 in favor of Piedmont entering the fourth quarter.
 
Ward scored the first of his back-to-back goals at the 11:06 mark of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 10-10 before his go-ahead goal at 8:18 set the stage for the dramatic finish.
 
Methodist outshot Piedmont, 45-42, for the game, but he Lions held a slim, 28-25, edge in shots on goal. Methodist also bested the Lions in groundballs, 49-45. The Monarchs converted 20-of-30 clears, while Piedmont was good on 19-of-27. The Lions won 14 faceoffs to 12 for the Monarchs, and Piedmont turned the ball over 27 times to 29 for Methodist.
 
Rice played all 61:20 in the cage for MU and made 16 saves. Morley also played the duration and came up with 14 saves for the Lions.
 
Justin Layden finished with three goals for the Monarchs, and Click, Dickinson and Ward each scored twice. Dickinson added an assist, and Matt Layden totaled four points on a goal and three assists. Justin Layden and Sean Mayefskie each totaled seven groundballs for the Monarchs, and Robinson and Daniel Richards added four apiece.
 
For the Lions, Axley had five points on two goals and three assists. Blanchard finished with a goal and three assists, and Nick Green added three goals. Morley led the way with nine groundballs, and Gantz chipped in six, while winning 14-of-25 faceoffs. Steve Miraglia caused four turnovers.
 
The Monarchs return to action on Tuesday at Guilford beginning at 7:00 pm.