MEMPHIS - Sophomore John Tooher scored two goals in the final 37 seconds as the Rhodes College men's lacrosse team defeated the Centre Colonels on Senior Day, 8-7, to claim the SAA Regular Season Title outright with a perfect 7-0 record.

The regular season title is the first ever for the Lynx program, which is only six years old, and sends four seniors, Jason Lee, Matt Jones, Mike Knudsen, and John Wancowicz, out with a monumental win over Centre.

Rhodes also moves to 13-2 overall, a new school mark for wins in overall wins. They will host the SAA Championship Final Four in two weeks at Crain Field.

Centre gave the Lynx everything they could handle, trying to spoil Senior Day and force the Lynx to share the title with Sewanee. Rhodes out shot Centre 43-23 including a 25-11 advantage in shots on target. The Lynx picked up 38 ground balls and forced 24 turnovers. 

Rhodes opened the game with two goals in the first five minutes as freshmen Addison Mueller and Ethan Garland made it a 2-0 game. However, the Colonels scored three goals going into the second quarter to take a 3-2 lead.

The Lynx had a great response later in the second as junior Justin Powers and Garland scored back-to-back goals to take a 4-3 lead into the break. Sophomore David Perez added a goal in the third to push the lead out to 5-3.

Centre responded with a pair of goals going into the fourth quarter to even things up at five. Sophomore John Tooher scored the first of his three goals in the quarter to push Rhodes back ahead 6-5.

However, Centre made it a 6-6 game midway through the fourth and used a huge turnover, breakaway goal with 58 seconds left to take a 7-6 lead.

Tooher took over in the final minute as he evened the score off a turnover, scoring with 37 seconds left to make it 7-7. He followed that up 15 seconds later with an unbelievable goal with 22 seconds left to make it 8-7.

The Lynx came away with a huge face off win and ran the clock out to complete the perfect season in conference and escape with their first ever win over the Colonels. 

Tooher led the way with three points while junior Ryan Fennelly and Garland had two, with Garland scoring two goals and Fennelly adding two assists. Powers, Mueller, and Perez had a goal while junior Tommy Reingruber added an assist.

Wancowicz finished with an astounding five caused turnovers while junior Steven Yowan added two. Tooher and sophomore Tyler Milwit each had five ground balls while Yowan had four. Freshman James Margraff, Fennelly, and Garland each had three. Sophomore Cameron Link finished with four saves on the day. 

Rhodes earns the No. 1 seed at the upcoming SAA Championship, earning a bye through the quarterfinals. They will play the winner of No. 4 BSC and No. 5 Hendrix on Friday, April 28th unless No. 6 Centre upsets No. 3 Berry, where the Lynx would play the Colonels again. Times and more information regarding the tournament will be released later.