LAGRANGE, Ga. -- The Methodist men's lacrosse team won a thrilling 10-9 overtime contest over Piedmont in the semifinals of the USA South Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday evening at Callaway Stadium.
 
Matt Layden scored the game-winning goal just over 2:30 into the first OT when he picked up a ground ball on the crease and deposited a shot past Piedmont's Zach Czulada for his third goal of the game. Layden's goal capped what had been a thrilling fourth quarter that saw Piedmont rally from an 8-4 deficit to start the fourth quarter to tie the game at 9-9 with just 4.4 seconds on the clock.
 
Methodist scored the three of the last four goals of the first half to take a 6-3 lead into the break, then outscored the Lions 2-1 in the third quarter for a seemingly comfortable lead of 8-4 entering the fourth quarter.
 
Piedmont scored a man-up goal early in the fourth to make it 8-5, but Bryce Kephart restored a four-goal lead with his second goal of the contest at 10:14 that put the score at 9-5.
 
Three straight tallies from the Lions pulled PC to within 9-8 with 2:25 setting up a frenetic final few minutes. Following the Piedmont goal that made it 9-8, the Lions regained possession with a win at the faceoff X, before John Tartline forced a turnover that gave possession back to MU with 1:06 to play. Attempting to run out the clock, Layden was dispossessed of the ball with 22 seconds on the clock and Brady Jenks raced down the field and beat MU's Clay Stevenson with just over four ticks on the clock to tie the game at 9-9.
 
The Monarchs won the opening faceoff of overtime and quickly called timeout once touching the ball in the offensive zone. A shot by Michael Bradley went wide, but was picked up by Kephart, whose shot also went wide. Piedmont's Zach Czulada won the race to the ground ball, but picked up the ball just inside the end line then promptly stepped over the end line to give possession back to MU.
 
MU's ensuing possession resulted in a shot by Mejia that was saved by Czulada. The rebound was corralled by Mejia and 40 seconds later Layden got a shot off that was also turned aside by Czulada. The rebound on Layden's shot was picked up by Kephart, whose close-range shot was just wide, but fell to Layden, who was able to scoop up the loose ball and beat an out-of-position Czalada for the game-winning goal and set off a raucous celebration from the Monarchs.
 
Piedmont outshot MU 35-26, picked up 40 ground balls to 37 for the Monarchs and won the faceoff battle 13-9. The Lions were also 3 of 6 with a man advantage, while MU was 1 for 3.
 
Stevenson finished with 12 saves for the Monarchs, while Czulada turned away 10 shots.
 
In addition to his three goals, Layden added a pair of caused turnovers and three ground balls. Bradley scored twice and scooped up eight ground balls, while Kephart had two goals, and assist and three ground balls. John Tartline caused three turnovers and had four ground balls, and Andrew Mayefskie picked up four ground balls with a pair of caused turnovers.
 
Methodist will now take on top-seeded Huntingdon for the USA South Conference Championship on Sunday beginning at 3 pm.