Kentucky men’s club lacrosse (2-6) pulls out an instant classic and emerged as victors over the Temple Owls on Friday night.

From a slow start on both sides of the ball, dropped passes, turnovers and quick changes of possession, Kentucky looked out of sorts early on.

Temple would take a 1-0 lead halfway through the first, but the Wildcats would quickly rebound with a connection from attackmen Mikey Ancona assisting Wil Guzaldo, quickly tying the score.

The first quarter continued to be defensively ran as sophomore midfielder Ty Koerbel shined on transition defense, causing multiple Temple turnovers.

After the first, Kentucky quickly found its fire, scoring five times as Ancona knotted an assist and goal in the quarter alongside Guzaldo getting another point by serving an assist to freshman  midfielder Peter Johnson to get the scoring going before it was quickly back to Johnson minutes later with his second goal of the quarter.

Very quickly after, defender Kaden Wilson came storming into a ground ball off the wing where he would then take it to the cage himself and get in on all the scoring fun.

Kentucky’s offensive frenzy didn’t just come from perfected offense, it came from feeding off the Owls’ clearing mistakes and turnovers on the Wildcats’ defensive side of the field. Ancona fed off these mistakes himself by intercepting the pass from the goalie and quickly shooting on the open net, giving him his second goal of the night before the half.

Kentucky went into half with a 6-2 lead over Temple, but momentum quickly shifted into the Owls’ favor as they dominated the first eight minutes of the third quarter, scoring four goals and tying it up 6-6.

It did not take long after the Owls tied it for the captain attackmen Ancona to find a cutting Bryson Davidson for a score and a 7-6 lead headed to the fourth quarter.

A rollercoaster of a fourth quarter begun with Temple scoring two quickly and then Ancona getting quickly back into the action, scoring his third goal of the game, giving himself five points on the night and a hat trick of goals.

Temple would quickly answer back, but the Wildcats always had an answer as Guzaldo again assisted the freshmen Johnson for his third goal of the game, giving him a hat trick as well.

As the final second ran down the clock after a Wildcat timeout, Kentucky ripped a shot on goal, which deflected off the goal and, in a scramble for ground ball, Kentucky was pushed from behind,
giving it a second chance.

Shortly after, senior attackmen Sammy Hamilton rolled off and scored what would be the game-winning goal with just six seconds left on the clock.

The Wildcats and Owls would face off once more where the groundball was won by the Wildcats and the horn sound as they mobbed the goal in excitement of a thrilling win.

The Wildcats will be right be out on the field Sunday morning at 11 a.m. as they take of Alabama at home.