Austin Abourjilie Nets Career-High Seven Goals as Greensboro Falls to Pfeiffer in USA South Men’s Lacrosse

MISENHEIMER, N.C.—Greensboro College’s Austin Abourjilie (Greensboro, N.C./Northwest Guilford/William Peace) netted a career-high seven goals as the Pride fell in the USA South Athletic Conference (USA South) Men’s Lacrosse Tournament First Round matchup against the East Division’s top-seed Pfeiffer University, 13-11.

The Pride countered Pfeiffer’s two-goal opening rally in the first quarter with a four-goal run that spilled into the second quarter. Abourjilie tallied a goal and an assist in the Pride’s rally, scoring the initial goal while Greensboro played with the man-advantage with 8:23 remaining in the opening period. Abourjilie assisted on Dominic Scali’s goal 1:26 later as the Pride evened the score.

Greensboro claimed the lead to close the first quarter when William Beyer (Greensboro, N.C./Northern Guilford) scored on a Spencer Kontoulas (Greensboro, N.C./Northern Guilford) pass with 54 seconds left in the first quarter. Kontoulas extended the Pride’s lead to two goals 3:42 into the second quarter with his second point of the rally and the final goal of the run.

Pfeiffer responded at the 10:48 mark of the second period with a three-goal rally to reclaim the lead as John Allen began the rally with a goal on the man-up. Abourjilie recorded his third point of the game with his second goal with two seconds left in the period as the Pride evened the contest, 5-5, at halftime.

That goal began a stretch where the Pride and the Falcons exchanged goals in a see-saw opening to the third period. Abourjilie netted two more goals in the stretch with the first coming at the 9:39 mark of the period. The attacker collected his second man-up goal of the game with 1:22 left in the period as the Pride tied the Falcons again, 7-7.

Pfeiffer reclaimed the lead with a three-goal rally that started in the closing seconds of the third period and continued into the fourth. An Abourjilie goal with 11:23 left in the contest stopped the Falcons’ rally, but Pfeiffer responded with three unanswered goals beginning at the 8:34 mark to represent one of two man-up goals for the Falcons in the rally.

Greensboro posted a comeback bid by scoring three goals in a 1:07 stretch late in the fourth period beginning at the 3:03 mark with Beyer’s second goal of the game. Abourjilie boosted the comeback bid with two more goals, but the Falcons held to advance to the USA South Men’s Lacrosse Finals.

Abourjilie finished with a season-high eight points on top of his career-high in goals. Beyer finished with two goals and an assist.

Christopher Stallings (10-3) took the loss for the Pride in net, making a season-high 21 saves while collecting two ground balls. Matt Stocks (11-2) took the win for Pfeiffer in a 14-save effort.

Greensboro finishes 2021 tying the school’s record for wins in a season, a mark also set by the 2009 squad. The Pride’s 10-3 record in 2021 boasts the best winning-percentage (.769) in program history for a single season.

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Courtesy of Bryan Jones, Greensboro College Sports Information Director