FROSTBURG, Md.- The second-seeded Frostburg State men's lacrosse team took on No. 3 seed Molloy in a convincing 21-6 win in the ECC Championship Semifinal to advance to the Championship game in their first ECC Tournament appearance.

Prior to the game, junior Justin Hulse received the Elite 19 Award, given to the athlete with the highest cumulative GPA in a given sport sponsored by the ECC. 

The first quarter was a cagey affair, with the Lions striking first and the Bobcats answering with a goal from senior Matt Ward. The final 11 minutes of the quarter were dominated by great goaltending from senior Kevin Reuther and his counterpart Christian Michael, as neither team were able to find a breakthrough until the final 30 seconds. After a great save from Reuther, he fired the ball down the field to try to give Frostburg one final opportunity. The ball looked to be going out of play, but a great save from senior Jake Bowman found its way to junior Bubba Love, who fired in a last-second goal to end the quarter in the lead 2-1.

The goal appeared to give FSU the momentum they needed, as the offense wasted no time scoring four goals in four minutes, with shots fired in from Ward, Hulse, redshirt junior Tanner Donaldson, and senior Joey Boros for a quick 6-1 lead. Just two minutes later, senior Gavin Schattall scored the first of back-to-back goals with Love adding another to his column within 15 seconds of each other. The Bobcats continued their onslaught with goals from junior Austin Linn and Bowman a minute apart from one another for a 10-1 lead. Sophomore Austin Sipes got in on the scoring on a man-up opportunity, with Bowman finishing another goal after a key save from Reuther to lead 12-1 going into halftime.

In the third quarter, Ward again got the scoring started with an early goal 30 seconds in. Another Reuther save would allow junior Owen McCallum to get his first goal of the night and stretch the goal streak to 14. Molloy was able to use some strong defending to keep Frostburg off the board for four minutes and scored for the first time in almost 37 minutes of game action. Hulse tacked on a goal off an assist from freshmen defender Landon Bruce, which was his first career point. The Lions would score two straight at the end of the quarter to go into the fourth with Frostburg ahead 15-4.

In the fourth quarter, McCallum scored his second of the game, with the Bobcats adding two more goals from Boros and freshman Drew Mullineaux. Molloy scored their fifth of the game, but Frostbrug answered right back with a man-up goal from Love. Sophomores Parker Masters and Tyler Dooley both scored within a minute and a half of each other to get over the 20-goal mark. The Lions would get the last goal of the game with 30 seconds left, as FSU took the victory 21-6 and will move on to the championship game.

Love tied his own personal record set earlier in the season with six assists, good enough to tie for second all-time in a single game, while his hat trick gave him nine total points, which is tied for third all-time in a single game. Freshman defender Seamus Kearney continued his fantastic season with a game-high four caused turnovers and tied Schattall with a game-high four groundballs. Senior Cade Price was dominant in the faceoff circle, winning 20 of 27 faceoffs. 

With the win, Frostburg improves to 11-7 on the year, while Molloy ends their season at 7-10. The Bobcats advance to the ECC championship game, where they will face No. 1 seed Mercy on Saturday, May 7 at 3 PM in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. For more information and updates, visit www.frostburgsports.com.