Romeoville, Ill. – In the first round of the 2024 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament, the Maryville Saints had a last second rally fall short at Lewis as the Flyers held on for an 11-10 win Wednesday afternoon. It took a school-record 23 saves by Lewis goalie Riah Rathe to stop the Saints.
 
Lewis recap
The Saints won the opening draw, and Zach Baker put the Saints on top 67 seconds into the game. Ben Foster doubled Maryville's lead. Lewis came back to tie the game at 2-2 before Clayton pushed the Saints back ahead 3-2. The Flyers tied the game by the end of the first quarter.
 
Neither team scored well into the second quarter but the Saints struck for three straight. Mitchell Kaye re-established a 4-3 lead, and 41 seconds later Ethan Olson rocketed in a score. Olson added a second a minute later as the Saints surged to a 6-3 advantage. Lewis picked up a man-down goal but Ben Mickett tallied in the waning seconds as the Saints grabbed a 7-4 edge at the break.
 
The Flyers opened the second half with a goal but Connor Kvaal answered for the Saints. Lewis tied the contest at 8-all before Reid Usrey gave the Saints a 9-8 lead. The defenses did not allow a goal the rest of the period as the game moved into the final quarter.
 
The stingy defensive play and sparkling goalie play kept the score still at 9-8 until less than five minutes remained. Lewis took a 10-9 lead at the 4:30 mark. The Saints nearly tied the game but the Flyers scored in transition to increase its advantage to 11-9 with 4:04 to go. The Saints peppered the Lewis goal but Flyer keeper Riah Rathe came up with four straight saves to stymie Maryville. The Saints finally pulled one back on a score by Justin Simonson to make it 11-10 with 20 seconds left. Maryville won the ensuing draw and had a shot to force overtime but the attempt was saved with two seconds left as Lewis held on.
 
Statistical Leaders
Goals: Ethan Olson - 2
Assists: six players - 1
Points: Ethan Olson - 3
Ground Balls: Shea Raeburn - 14
Saves: Dylan Radke - 18
 
Records
Maryville: 13-5
Lewis: 14-4