MANCHESTER, N.H. – Junior Geoff Kennedy (Gloucester, Mass.) score a game-high three goals and added an assist for four points, but the Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team dropped a 9-6 decision to Bentley University on Tuesday evening for Northeast-10 Conference men's lacrosse action.
With the loss, Saint Anselm drops its first in three games and falls to 2-3 on the season, 1-2 in NE-10 play, while the Falcons improve to 2-3, 2-1 NE-10.
Bentley took a 2-0 lead after the first quarter, before the Hawks came back to tie it, 2-2, with a short-handed goal from senior Ryan Mee (Medway, Mass.) just 3:23 into the second. Mee was also assisting on Kennedy's goal, which cut the deficit in half at 2-1.
The Falcons had the answer to Saint Anselm's goals by scoring four straight into 11:06 of the third quarter, where Bentley led the game at 6-2. Junior James Peters (Medway, Mass.) connected with senior Andrew Messner (Wakefield, R.I.) at 5:08 of the third, but 43 seconds later Bentley found the net, bringing the score to 7-3 in favor of the Falcons.
Saint Anselm scored a pair of goals to close the third quarter and put the Hawks within two at 7-5, thanks to tallies from Messner and Kennedy. Peters was assisting on the goal from Messner at 1:23.
Bentley pushed the lead back to three at 9-6 to open scoring in the fourth and then tacked on another with 35 seconds left in the game. Kennedy followed that up by potting his third of the game with nine seconds on the clock, to close scoring at 9-6.
Senior Matthew Steele (Ipswich, Mass.) was 10-for-17 on the faceoff and picked up six groundballs, while sophomore Jake Stokes (Beverly, Mass.) grabbed four.
Sophomore goalie James O'Neill (East Walpole, Mass.) made a career-high 12 saves in net for the Hawks, who held a 40-39 edge in shots on goal.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, March 29 at 11 a.m. when they play host to No. 1 nationally-ranked Le Moyne. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and following us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).
