The No. 16 Colorado College men's lacrosse team had all the horses at both ends of the field and hit the wire with a 20-11 victory over Transylvania University in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship on Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers are one of 16 teams remaining in the tournament and face host Centre College on Sunday at noon MT for the right to advance to a national quarterfinal game on Saturday, May 22. The Colonels held on for a 12-11 victory over No. 14 Denison University in Saturday's second game.

Anders Erickson and Elliot Nelson produced nine points apiece as CC recorded the program's first-ever NCAA road win.

Erickson led the Tigers with four goals and set up five more, while Nelson struck for three goals and dished out six assists for the second game in a row. Dylan Wells and Dylan Brown added three goals apiece as Colorado College scored 20 or more goals for the sixth time this season.

Erickson climbed into third place on CC's single-season list with 41 assists, seventh with 79 points and tied for 19th with 38 goals. Nelson set a career-high with nine points and matched his best of six assists set last week in the 31-11 victory over Southwestern University. His 23 assists this season put him in a tie for 27th on the single-season list.

The Pioneers were strong out of the gate, scoring the games first goal and pulling level at 5-5 on the second of Trenton Sneed's three goals, but Colorado College found its stride and dominated the next 30 minutes, building a 20-9 cushion before Transy struck for the final three goals with CC's top lines getting some time off heading into Sunday's game.   

The Tigers broke the game open with a 5-1 barrage during the final six minutes of the second quarter. Colorado College built an 8-5 lead on goals by Brown, Erickson and Makay Hansen in a span of 1:05, with the final two coming just two seconds apart.

After T.J. Toivonen got one back for Transylvania, Jacob Smith and Wells scored 18 seconds apart to give CC a 10-6 lead after 30 minutes.

Toivonen struck for the first goal of the second half to pull the Pioneers to within three, however Nelson produced a goal and two assists during a 4-0 run that put Colorado College up 14-7.

The teams traded the next four goals before the Tigers scored four in a row to build a 20-9 lead, their largest of the game. CC's 20 goals were the most allowed by the Pioneers this season.

Winston Chodnicki won 16 of 24 faceoffs and led Colorado College with seven ground balls. Long-Stick midfielder Sam DiMaio produced three ground balls, caused one turnover and scored a goal.

The Tigers finished with a 53-36 advantage in total shots and a 38-28 edge in ground balls.

CC was successful on 11 of 12 clears, while Transy was 13-for-20.   
   
    
Colorado College Standouts
Makay Hansen and Declan Maguire each recorded two goals and an assist.
Ben Anastos made nine saves before exiting the game with 8:36 to play.
Pat Mahoney stopped three shots in relief.
 
Transylvania Standouts
Trenton Sneed led the Pioneers with five points on three goals and two assists.
Andrew Hamill finished with three goals and an assist.
Michael Webb stopped 13 shots while playing all 60 minutes in goal.
 
Notes
Colorado College improved to 12-3
Transylvania finished its season at 13-3.