BANNER ELK, N.C. -- Saturday afternoon the Malone University men's lacrosse team took the field for the first time in program history.

The Pioneers traveled to take on the Lees-McRae College Bobcats. 

It took a sudden death overtime period, but the end result was a Pioneer win. 

THE ESSENTIALS

• Final Score: Malone University Pioneers 15 - Lees-McRae College Bobcats 14
• Records: Malone (1-0, 0-0 G-MAC) | Lees-McRae (0-3, 0-0 CC)
• Location: Banner Elk, North Carolina | Tate Field

THE GAME
The Pioneers wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard.

Given a man-up opportunity less than three minutes into the game, Zac Smargiasso found Talon Heath who put the ball home for the first goal in program history. 

Heath would go on to score two more goals in the opening quarter to help give Malone a 5-2 lead. 

The Bobcats were able to get things going in the second quarter, but still the Pioneers outscored them to carry a 9-5 lead into halftime.

Ramsey Burnard had a pair of goals late in the quarter to help preserve Malone's advantage. 

The third quarter was all Lees-McRae. The Bobcats outscored the Pioneers 4-1 to pull to within 10-9.

LMC then scored three unanswered goals early on in the fourth quarter to move ahead 12-10. 

Malone responded with another goal from Burnard. 40 seconds later he found Kenny Kaiser for a goal that tied the game at 12-12 with 9:04 to play in the game. 

The two sides traded goals to make it 13-13 with 7:15 still to play. 

Inside of three minutes left in the game, Heath found the back of the net for the sixth time on the afternoon to give the Pioneers a 14-13 advantage. 

Unfortunately the Bobcats got a goal in the final minute of play to force a sudden-death overtime.

Micah Pennington won the overtime faceoff, and Smargiasso scored the game-winning goal just over two minutes into the extra period.

DETAILS

• Four different Pioneers scored goals, led by six from Talon Heath. He also had a pair of assists to finish with eight points on the afternoon. 
• Zac Smargiasso led the team with five ground balls.
• Phillip Bell played the entire game in goal for Malone. He finished with 18 saves on the day.

WHAT'S NEXT
Malone will host Quincy University on Saturday. The start time from King Field is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the Malone University athletic programs this year follow the Pioneers on Twitter and Instagram, like Malone University Athletics on Facebook or visit www.malonepioneers.com.