PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Senior Geoff Kennedy (Gloucester, Mass.), junior Ben Warren (Georgetown, Mass.) and sophomore James Olsen (Westford, Vt.) all recorded three goals apiece but the Saint Anselm men's lacrosse team dropped a 14-11 decision to Northeast-10 Conference foe Pace University Saturday afternoon at Pleasantville High School.
The loss was the fourth straight to start the season for Saint Anselm, which dropped to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the league. Pace picks up its first NE-10 win and improves to 1-1 in the league and 3-2 overall.
Kennedy led the Hawks on the day with six points while Warren and senior James Peters (Medway, Mass.) each added two assists on the afternoon. Junior Jake Stokes (Beverly, Mass.) tallied a game-high six groundballs, but the Hawks were dominated on the faceoff, securing just six of 26 opportunities.
For the fourth straight game, the Hawks found themselves fighting uphill early by giving up a trio of goals to the host Setters in the first five minutes of the game, including a Matt Ruquet goal just 16 seconds in. Senior Andy Budz (Williamstown, Mass.) finally broke up Pace's run with a goal at the 4:40 mark of the opening quarter of a Warren assist, before the Setters notched a pair of scores in the final 17 seconds of the period to surge to a 5-1 lead at the first intermission.
The Setters added another early-quarter score to go up 6-1, but the Hawks responded by scoring the next four goals to cut the deficit to one. Olsen sent home a goal at the 12:34 mark on a Peters assist, then Warren scored an unassisted man-up goal just 50 seconds later. Olsen added a Kennedy-assisted tally at the 10:57 mark and Warren used another Kennedy assist on another man-up opportunity to cap off a furious two and a half minutes of scoring to wrestle back some momentum midway through the period.
Pace's dominance on the faceoff matchups proved a major storyline as the Setters were able to maintain possession for much of the game, including after most of Saint Anselm's goals. Three different Setters added goals before Budz scored his second goal of the game as the Hawks faced a 9-6 deficit at the halftime break.
Saint Anselm regrouped and showed some fight in the second half, taking advantage of a handful of Setter penalties to open the third. Kennedy rocketed home a goal at the 13:49 mark off an assist from senior Charles Geraghty (Norwich, Vt.), then Peters assisted on Kennedy's man-up goal at the 6:13 mark to score the third advantage goal of the game for Saint Anselm.
Junior goalkeeper James O'Neill (East Walpole, Mass.) picked up some huge saves for the Hawks throughout the third period, before Olsen capped off the Hawks' furious comeback off a Warren assist to tie the game at 9-9 with less than five minutes to go in the third period. The tie would promptly be broken with back-to-back scores by Pace to end the threat as the Setters took an 11-9 advantage into the final intermission.
A big save by O'Neill just 30 seconds into the fourth quarter started the fast break for the Hawks and Kennedy rocketed one past Pace goalkeeper Michael Bonitatibus to pull the Hawks to within one. Warren's third score of the game came after a Pace score and held the deficit to one goal at the 6:08 mark, but the Setters would notch the final two goals of the game to seal a tough and important victory in the early Northeast-10 league race.
O'Neill recorded a game-high 13 saves on 27 shots for the Hawks, while Bonitatibus notched 11 saves on 22 Saint Anselm shots on target.
Saint Anselm will head back on the road for a Northeast-10 matchup at Bentley University. The Hawks and Falcons will square off on the turf at 7 p.m. in Waltham.
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 and following us on Twitter @STAHawks.
