For the fifth consecutive season and third straight on Vago Field, the Aurora University men's lacrosse team played in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference Tournament Semi-Final as they hosted Beloit College on Wednesday afternoon. AU rolled to a 24-5 win and advance to the MLC Tournament Final on Saturday, May 2 at 2:00 p.m. which they will host for the third straight season.

The Spartans scored early and often as senior Max Obriecht won the opening face-off and lit the lamp eight seconds into the game for a 1-0 AU lead. Beloit would respond though, scoring at 10:54 and forcing an AU timeout from a unhappy AU Head Coach Kylor Berkman.

Berkman's words of encouragement ignited the Spartans on both ends of the field as they rattled off nine consecutive goals, five in the first quarter to lead 6-1 entering the second. Scoring the five first quarter goals were Obriecht (two for the hat trick), Jason Koziol, Garret Rosiek and Max Matthai. Rosiek, Jordan Williams, Nolan Miller and Trevor McNamara recorded assists.

The run continued into the second quarter with Obreicht scoring once again to start the quarter, Koziol, McNamara and long-pole Dan Gould recorded the other scores. Koziol, Obriecht (two) and Danny Loyall added assists. Beloit did snap the AU run at 3:34 to play in the second and scored once more to go into halftime with a 10-3 AU lead.

The third quarter was all Spartans as the hosts scored eight goals while holding Beloit without a goal and out shot them 19 to 5. The scoring started with a man-up goal from Williams (Rosiek assist) and continued with two from Miller, Steven Ruffin, Koziol, Rosiek and Dustin Rhodes. Koziol, Rosiek, Nick Glaser, Loyall, Bailey Smith and Zach Henry dished out assists. The goal and assists for Koziol (Loyall) and Rhodes (Henry) came on fast breaks and forced a Beloit timeout that brought the home crowd to its feet.

At the end of three quarters, AU had complete control of the contest with an 18-3 score. The fourth quarter began with the Spartans extending the run to 9-0, the second 9-0 run of the game.  Miller scored the goal adding a hat trick to his resume with Obriecht assisting, his third of the game to go along with five goals. Beloit snapped the run on a man-up and scored once more while the Spartans tallied five more goals for the 24-5 final. McNamara (Henry), Alex Gebben, AJ Fisher, Miller (Rosiek) and Nick Virden (Casey Pettine) rounded out the scoring for AU.

In all, 18 Spartans tallied a point and Cameron Brooks earned the win with seven saves on goal. Brian Richter also saw time in goal but did not face a shot in his action.

With the win, AU is now 12-7 overall. Next action for the Spartan men's lacrosse comes on Saturday, May 2, when they host the 2015 Midwest Lacrosse Conference Tournament Final against the semi-final winner between Benedictine University and Concordia University Wisconsin. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. on Vago Field in Aurora, Illinois.