Riley Loewen of Burnaby ended his NCAA Division II field lacrosse career four points shy of an all-time points record and one goal away from a second-straight appearance in a national championship final.
The Limestone College attack scored three goals and added one assist in the Saints' 18-17 overtime loss to unbeaten No. 1 Mercyhurst College in the Div. II semifinal in Erie, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Limestone held two-goal leads twice in the final quarter, including Loewen's set up to teammate Corey Rich for a 17-15 lead with five minutes left to play.
But Mercyhurst would not lay down, scoring two times in the final minute of regulation time, including James Chayka's game-tying tally on a turnover with just four seconds left to play.
In the sudden-death OT, Deven Alves potted the game-winner at 2: 56 of extra time to send Mercyhurst back to the national championship final for the second time in three seasons.
"It was tough. I wanted to bring a national championship to the program. That was my goal," Loewen said on a long-distance call Monday. "At the end of the game, I thought we were going to win and go to Philadelphia."
Mercyhurst finished its 14th straight NCAA record appearance in the Div. II nationals, following a 16-2 overall record and league and conference tournament titles.
Loewen ended his university career second in overall program scoring with 269 total points, just four points behind 2000/03 alumnus Devan Spilker and first in six other categories, including a program-best 184 all-time goals. The converted box lacrosse player also finished fifth all-time with 85 career assists at Limestone.
"All the seniors, we left everything out there. We're proud of the four years we had," Loewen said.
