Bloomington, Ill. - What started as a battle of the goalies turned into a 6-1 lead for Rhodes College men's lacrosse in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Rhodes would go on to defeat host Illinois Wesleyan 22-9. The Lynx advance to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row with a 16-3 record. They will play No. 9 Denison at 1 p.m. ET in Granville, Ohio on Saturday, May 11.

IWU finished their season 16-2, tying a program record for number of wins. Rhodes limited the highest-scoring team in NCAA Division III to their second-lowest goal total of the season.

Both starting goalkeepers performed tremendously, totaling six saves each in the first quarter. The Lynx caught IWU with an open net in transition allowing Tristan Brunet to score the first goal of the game from the far sideline at midfield after almost five minutes had passed. David Perez scored the second goal of the game for the Lynx forcing IWU to call a timeout. The Lynx came out of the break hot as Christian Cisneros scored immediately after the face-off. IWU scored their first goal less than a minute later before Perez gave Rhodes a 4-1 lead after the first quarter. 

Rhodes opened the second quarter with two goals to lead 6-1. After the Titans scored, Addison Mueller picked up a rebound and immediately scored right in front of the net before a quick transition led to another IWU goal. Ryan Marasco scored before Matt Perez fired the ball into the top right corner to give Rhodes a 9-3 lead. The Titans then roared back with back-to-back goals within 30 seconds before adding a third. Cisneros ended IWU's scoring streak after snagging his missed shot and putting into back into the goal as the goalie came out of the crease. A man-up quick stick by David Perez from Cisneros gave Rhodes an 11-6 lead. Austin Le picked up a ground ball for Rhodes with 15 seconds left in the half and sent the outlet to SAA Newcomer of the Year Alexi Thomas who ran the ball up the midfield. Thomas dumped the ball to the left before the Lynx swung it to the right with four seconds left. Cisneros sent the ball back to Thomas in the middle who buried the final goal of the half to give Rhodes a six-goal advantage. 

IWU opened the second half with a goal before the Lynx caused a turnover and Thomas scooped up the ground ball and ran straight to the cage to bury the man-down goal, his second goal in just over two minutes. A goal from Tyler Milwit gave Rhodes a 14-7 lead with 12:05 remaining in the third quarter. The Lynx went up by eight after Cale Dow ran the ball down the field and straight into the back of the net. Neither team scored for four minutes until IWU netted their eighth goal before Mueller netted a goal a minute later for the Lynx. Mac Ference raced to the goal after picking up the next face-off to give the Lynx a 17-8 lead, scoring just nine seconds after Mueller. The Lynx went up by 10 on another fast transition allowed Jonathon Hazelhurst scored to finish scoring for the quarter. 

IWU scored first in the fourth quarter but then J.J. Hoots scooped up the face-off and took it straight to goal to go up by 10 once again. The Lynx utilized the shot clock more in the final quarter. Cisneros scored Rhodes' 20th goal before a failed clear, caused by a Lynx interception near midfield, was sent directly to Cisneros in front of the goal for his fifth goal of the game. Rhodes' final goal came from Mueller with 5:27 left in the game.

Link finished the game with 17 saves, 13 of which came in the first half. The Lynx won 20-of-35 face-offs and out shot IWU 59-45, including a 28-14 second half advantage. Tooker Callaway and J.J. Hoots led the Lynx with six ground balls each while Ference and Thomas each collected four.

Offensively, Cisneros led the game with five goals and two assists. David Perez and Mueller both recorded hat tricks while Thomas and Matt Perez tallied two goals each.