MEMPHIS - Making their first ever appearance in the SAA Semifinals, the top-seeded Rhodes College men's lacrosse team put together a masterful defensive effort, shutting down the No. 4 seed Birmingham-Southern Panthers in a 8-3 win on Friday night to punch their ticket to the SAA Championship Game on Sunday.

Rhodes will take on in-state rival and No. 2 seed Sewanee on Sunday at 1 PM from Crain Field. 

In a game where the Lynx offense struggled at times, the Rhodes defense stepped up and made big play after big play, forcing 22 Panther turnovers and holding BSC to 1 of 7 in extra man opportunities. Rhodes won six face offs and picked up 35 ground balls on the day.

The Lynx started things with a bang as freshman J.J. Hoots won the face off and took it all the way end for a goal, just 21 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead. A penalty was tacked on at the end of the play and Rhodes took advantage as junior Ryan Fennelly scored a man-up goal to go ahead 2-0.

It looked as though Rhodes was ready to blow the game open in the first minute, but things settled and the BSC defense began to the Lynx trouble. However, on the other end, the Lynx defense were having their way with the Panthers, taking that 2-0 lead into the 2nd.

Sophomore Tyler Milwit started the second quarter with a goal to increase the lead to three while Fennelly added his second and third goals of the half to increase the lead to 5-0 as Rhodes took that commanding lead into the break.

However, the Rhodes offense sputtered in the third quarter while the Panthers took advntage, finally getting one by sophomore Cameron Link on a man-up situation and tacking on a second goal with 25 seconds left to make it a 5-2 game.

As they have all year, Rhodes regained their composure and finished BSC off as Tooher came away with a beautiful man-up goal while junior Steven Yowan followed that 30 seconds later with a goal of his own to make it 7-2.

BSC chalked one more goal up before Toooher finished things off with a goal to push the lead and the final out to 8-3. Fennelly and Tooher assisted on each other's goal each time on Friday.

Both men finished with five points, Fennelly with three goals and two assists and Tooher with two goals and five assists. Hoots, Milwit, and Yowan had the only other points on the evening.

Defense told the story though as senior John Wancowicz had four caused turnovers while freshman James Margraff had three caused turnovers and five ground balls. Fennelly, Yowan, senior Mike Knudsen, and sophomore Matthew Simon all had three ground balls.

Yowan and Knudsen were especially key on the defensive end and in clear situations as Rhodes was an astounding 20-for-21 on the evening. Link had a nice evening in goal, making seven saves while freshman Eliot Gorski was 4 of 7 in face offs.

The Lynx and Tigers will prepare to square off again in a rematch from earlier this season where Rhodes picked up a 12-6 win over Sewanee just two weeks ago at Crain Field. The Tigers came away with a thrilling win over Berry earlier today in come-from-behind fashion, 18-17 in OT.