GREENWOOD – With their third straight win and an undefeated record in the Peach Belt Conference, the Lander men's lacrosse team earned the 2025 PBC Regular Season Championship on Senior Day Saturday afternoon by beating No. 6 Flagler 14-9.
Michael Mattaliano scored a career-high five goals to lead the way for the Bearcat offense.
Zane Dalpe,
Carter Wilcox and
Jeremy Wudrick each scored twice.
Micah Finotti,
Chase Hanson and
Daniel Quinn also scored.
The Bearcats (8-6, 3-0 PBC) spotted the Saints (12-2, 2-1 PBC) an early goal but piled on seven in a row over a nine-minute stretch to take a commanding 7-1 lead during the first quarter. Mattaliano scored four of those goals and had his hat-trick a mere 11 minutes into the game.
Lander held a 9-6 lead after two quarters.
Wilcox got his first goal in the third to push it to 10-6, and Mattaliano's fifth of the day brought it to 11-6 with 5:30 left in the quarter.
The fourth quarter was a defensive stalemate until Dalpe gave the Bearcats a five-goal lead, 13-8, with three minutes remaining after stealing the ball away from the Flagler goalkeeper and firing it into an empty net. Wilcox scored again with 18 ticks left.
Lander will host the 2025 PBC Men's Lacrosse Tournament next week on Thursday, April 24 (semifinal round) and Saturday, April 26 (finals).
The Bearcats will play No. 4 seed Alabama-Huntsville at 3 p.m. on Thursday at Van Taylor Stadium in a rematch from last weekend where the Bearcats won 16-6 in Huntsville.
