A season of unprecedented success for Hampden-Sydney College’s (H-SC) highly-decorated lacrosse team came to a conclusion Saturday afternoon when the Tigers fell 25-12 to host and defending national champion Salisbury University in the third round of the NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse Tournament.

“They’re a tough team all over the field,” H-SC Head Coach Jason Rostan said of the Sea Gulls. “They don’t have a whole lot of weaknesses on their team. (I’m) just proud of the way the guys fought.”

The Sea Gulls held a 7-3 lead after the first quarter and widened it to 14-4 by halftime. They won the third quarter 8-1 before the Tigers flipped the script of the first quarter, outscoring their hosts 7-3.

The 12 goals H-SC scored were the most any opponent had produced against Salisbury this season.

“We didn’t play our best game, no doubt about it, but I thought we had some great performances out there,” said Rostan.

Senior midfielder Jared Arntzen won 15 face-offs with 12 ground balls.

“Jared Arntzen, again, was just a warrior for our team, just played really hard the whole game,” Rostan said.

Junior attackman Ian Levin scored four goals and handed out four assists, totaling eight points — the most any player has had this season against Salisbury.

“That was pretty neat,” Rostan said. “He’s had a great, great year.”

Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) accolades announced last week highlighted the great year Hampden-Sydney has had, with eight Tigers receiving All-ODAC honors and Rostan being named ODAC Coach of the Year.

“I think that’s definitely a team award, no doubt about it,” Rostan said of the coaching accolade.

The Tigers had a program-record 16 wins this season, and they also broke the school record for points in a single season with 468 and goals in a single season with 295.

Senior defenseman Triston Stegall, who made the All-ODAC second team, said that Rostan “lets the players play, and it’s a very fun environment to play for him. Practice is fun, it’s exciting. Every day is exciting.”

He also highlighted the talent of Rostan’s assistant coaches, Tommy Kestermann and Billy Cameron.

Making the All-ODAC first team were Levin, junior midfielder Hunter Brown and junior defenseman Kent Henry.

The program record for total points in a season had been 78, set in 1982 by Rob Bonaventura.

Levin finished this season with 91 points, and Brown finished with 87 points.

Making the All-ODAC second team were Arntzen, Stegall, senior attackman Duncan Morris and junior midfielder Chandler Shaheen.

Senior defenseman Bucky Potter made the third team.

Junior midfielder Wilson Booth was named to the Ray Rostan Sportsmanship team.