MEMPHIS - In a much anticipated rematch from earlier in the regular season, the Rhodes College men's lacrosse team fell short to the Sewanee Tigers on Sunday afternoon in the SAA Championship Game, 8-7.

The heartbreaking defeat concludes the most successful season in Rhodes Lacrosse history, as they finish 14-3 including the SAA Regular Season Championship and the first ever appearance in the Championship Game in the tournament.

After a delay due to inclement weather in the Memphis area, the two teams finally took the field for the championship match.

Turnovers proved to be costly in the loss, as Rhodes matched a season high in turnovers with 24. The Lynx did force 22 turnovers, but Sewanee out shot Rhodes 41-30 and picked up 32 ground balls to Rhodes' 21. The Lynx were 1 of 9 in extra man opportunities.

Rhodes grabbed the early lead on a goal from freshman Ethan Garland, but Sewanee rattled off four consecutive goals including three in the first quarter to take a 4-1 lead. Sophomore John Tooher got one back to pull within two, but two Tiger goals in the final 1:30 gave Sewanee a 6-2 lead at the break.

The Lynx came out with a vengeance in the second half as sophomore Tyler Milwit and Tooher each scored to cut the deficit to 6-4 at the end of three. Tooher made it a hat trick to start the fourth quarter to get Rhodes within one.

Sewanee responded with a huge man-up goal to move back ahead by two, but Garland responded with a goal to make it 7-6. Again, Sewanee took advantage, this time off a Lynx turnover, and turned it into points to move back ahead by two with 6:40 to play.

However, Rhodes still had some magic left as Garland earned a hat trick with a goal with 1:37 to play. Rhodes got the ball back with one minute left, looking to tie, but the Sewanee defense blocked the Milwit shot with three seconds to play and came away with the win.

Both Garland and Tooher had hat tricks while junior Ryan Fennelly had two assists. Milwit added a goal and an assist while freshman James Margraff, junior John Snyder, and sophomore Matthew Simon each had an assist.

Simon caused three turnovers while sophomore Austin Le added two. Junior Steven Yowan and senior John Wancowicz each had three ground balls while Margraff and Tooher added two. Sophomore Cameron Link picked up seven saves in goal.

Rhodes concludes an incredible 2017 season with a record of 14-3. They will look to continue to build on an incredibly young program and build off their success.