By: Wells Dusenbury

St. Andrew's and St. Thomas Aquinas have turned into lacrosse rivals over the past couple of years with Aquinas looking to unseat St. Andrew's as South Florida's premier power.

The rivalry took an ugly turn on Tuesday night.

With St. Andrew's up 15-5 late in the third quarter of the Regional Finals, St. Thomas Aquinas defenseman Jake Champion was ejected for throwing a punch at a St. Andrew's player. As he was being ushered off to the sideline by a referee, Champion sucker punched St. Andrew's attackman Jordan Todd, who didn't see Champion coming his way.

"I was standing there and I just get hit in the face and I'm on the ground," said Todd.

Todd remained down on the ground for about 20 seconds before getting up on his own power. Todd would go on to finish the game.

"There's no place in the game for that," Todd said.

"I understand in a competitive situation things happen, but you've got to realize you've got to think about your team sometimes and I'm glad our boys thought about our team," said St. Andrew's head coach R.J. Dawson.

St. Thomas Aquinas Associate Head Coach Jeff Goldberg, who served as the Scots head coach for 17 years, was upset about the incident after the game.

"That doesn't really dictate what we're about as a program," said Goldberg.

The Scots would go on to win the game by a final of 20-6.

No word yet as to any possible suspensions facing Champion or St. Thomas Aquinas in the wake of this incident.

VIDEO: St. Thomas player punches St. Andrew's player

 --------------------------------------------------

Follow Wells Dusenbury on twitter @DuseReport760