BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (April 14, 2022) - After falling behind early, the Rhodes Lynx made a furious attempt at a comeback in the second half, but fell just short in the 14-12 loss against the Birmingham Southern Panthers. Rhodes now stands at 2-12 on the year, with a 2-3 record in SAA play. BSC moves to 12-3, and 5-1 in the SAA. 

The first quarter belonged to the home team as BSC jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Seconds before the first horn, Rhodes went on the attack in a man-up situation and came through. Working off a feed from Christian Cisneros, Drew Downes was able to rip one past the Panther goalie to make it a 3-1 game at the end of one. 

A barrage of goals from Birmingham Southern ballooned their lead to 6-1 halfway through the second period. Freshman Sammy Carter was able to break free from his defender and score a goal to add one to the Lynx ledger. About a minute later, Drew Litner played copycat and delivered an unassisted goal of his own. Unfortunately, the Panthers would get both goals back before halftime, where they took an 8-3 lead into the break. 

Jonathan Hazelhurst took it upon himself to bring Rhodes back into the game in the third quarter. He scored two times, one unassisted and one on a feed from Cisneros, within one minute of each other to make it 8-5. Again, BSC was quick to respond with a pair of their own. The Lynx weren't done, however. Tyler Pellegrino found the net two times, while Fisher Roy scored his first goal of the season to bring Rhodes within two at 10-8. The excitement did not last long unfortunately. Carter McAlpin was able to score once more for the Panthers with only three seconds left in the period to make it 11-8. 

Conor Casey helped the Lynx out with a goal on their first possession of the fourth quarter. Per the game script, Southern was able to respond with a pair of goals to go up 13-9. Like they've done all season, the Lynx showed their grit by fighting hard to come back. First it was Downes knifing through the defense to score his second of the day. Two minutes later, Reed Dousevic had a similar outcome after finding separation from the defense. Then it Ryan Dancy scoring his first of the game with two and a half minutes to go, pulling Rhodes within one at 13-12. The Lynx did everything they could to force a turnover on defense, which they got from Alexi Thomas. They then brought goalie Brendan Roberts up from goal to have a man advantage on the attack. In anti-cimatic fashion, Rhodes turned the ball over and allowed BSC to score once more without a goalie in the net, creating the final of 14-12. 

It was a full team effort as nine different Lynx scored in this one, with Pellegrino, Hazelhurst and Downes each netting two. Cisneros had the only three assists of the game for Rhodes. Roberts saw 43 shots come in his direction, with 23 on goal. He tallied nine saves in the loss. 

Rhodes will wrap up their regular season with a home matchup against Hendrix on Saturday. Faceoff is scheduled for 2:00 pm. Prior to the start, the Lynx wil recognize their 13 seniors on the roster.