Manchester, N.H. (April 28) -- Saint Anselm battled back from an early 5-0 hole to close to within 5-4 late in the second quarter before Bentley scored six of the next seven goals to pull away for the 12-8 win at a rainy Melucci Field on Wednesday afternoon.

The Falcons got on the board with 10:29 left in the opening quarter on the first of five goals in the game by sophomore Brendan Grant (Walpole, Mass.). Bentley scored four more in the next 3:36 and with six minutes left in the first period, the Falcons were in complete control at 5-0.

The Hawks maintained possession for much of the final minutes of the quarter and with 47 seconds left, freshman Conor O'Donnell (Smithfield, R.I.) scored his 12th goal of the season on a wraparound from behind the net to cut the lead to 5-1 after one quarter. Senior Matt O'Connell (Charlestown, Mass.) and O'Donnell scored two more goals in a 15-second span, followed by the third goal of the season by freshman Daniel Sullivan (Rumford, R.I.), and the lead stood at just 5-4 in favor of the Falcons with 4:03 left in the first half. Grant scored with 3:12 left in the period for the Falcons however and the game went into the halftime break at 6-4.

In the third quarter, senior Kevin Gould (Duxbury, Mass.) scored just 10 seconds into the period to put the Falcons in front by three, but the Hawks quickly answered to make it a 7-5 game. For the Hawks' fifth goal, junior goalie Pat Acone (Bow, N.H.) made a save and took the ball across midfield and into the Saint Anselm offensive zone, where he found O'Connell for his 22nd goal of the year, along with the first assist of the season for Acone.

The Falcons blew the game open late in the third though with four answered scores to put the lead up to 11-5 with 2:11 left in the period. Senior Justin Hall (Sudbury, Mass.) scored with 28 seconds left in the third, followed by a score from Colin Lacey (South Hadley, Mass.) to open the fourth, but that was as close as the Hawks would get. The two teams traded goals in the final minutes of the contest to account for the 12-8 final.

Grant led all scorers with five goals for Bentley, while Bentley netminder Andy Collette (South Hadley, Mass.) made eight saves for the win. O'Connell and O'Donnell each had two goals for Saint Anselm, while Acone made 10 saves in the defeat.

Saint Anselm falls to 7-6 overall and 5-4 in the league, while Bentley is now 8-3 overall and 7-2 in the Northeast-10. The Hawks are back in action on Friday afternoon, hosting No. 1 ranked Le Moyne for a Northeast-10 game beginning at 4 p.m.

Prior to the start of the game, the Hawks will be recognizing seven members of the Saint Anselm men's lacrosse program that are playing in their final career home game wearing the Blue and White.