SO. BURLINGTON, Vt. – Senior Geoff Kennedy (Gloucester, Mass.) recorded a season-high four goals and sophomore Mark Vitello (Weymouth, Mass.) added two goals and an assist but the Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team dropped its second straight overtime game Wednesday afternoon at Saint Michael's College, 11-10.
The loss drops Saint Anselm to 1-9 overall and 1-7 in Northeast-10 Conference play, while the Purple Knights improve to 5-6 overall and 4-5 in the league.
After giving up a quick goal to start the game, the Hawks responded with three straight to take a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period. Vitello tied the game at 1-1, then assisted on a James Olsen (Westford, Vt.) putaway before Kennedy capped off the period with an unassisted tally.
After the Purple Knights cut the lead in half, Vitello added his second goal of the day at the 9:16 mark of the second period. Saint Michael's promptly got its offense going, responding with three goals over the final seven minutes—including converting on a man-up opportunity just two minutes after Vitello's tally—to take a slim 5-4 lead into the halftime intermission.
Saint Michael's added a rare man-down goal early in the third period to stretch its lead to 6-4, but the Hawks came rolling back with goals by Kennedy and Olsen to tie the game. The two teams then traded goals with junior Ben Warren (Georgetown, Mass.) scoring off a Colin Swanson (Nashua, N.H.) pass before Kennedy added a man-up goal to take an 8-7 lead after the third quarter.
The back-and-forth affair continued into the fourth as the Purple Knights notched the first two goals to retake the lead at the 5:24 mark. Senior Charles Geraghty (Norwich, Vt.) locked up the game for the sixth time at 9-9 with an unassisted tally and Kennedy tied it at 10-10 with another unassisted score with just 15 seconds remaining in the game.
For the second straight game, the Hawks were issued a costly penalty in the overtime session and Saint Michael's John Miller converted just over three minutes into the extra period to score an important win for the host Knights.
Freshman goalkeeper Lucas DeAngelo (Byfield, Mass.) recorded a season-high 11 saves against 21 Saint Michael's shots. Saint Anselm was again dominant at the faceoff line, as sophomore Chris McCormack (Ipswitch, Mass.) went 14-for-22 on the evening.
Saint Anselm is in the home stretch of its regular season but will travel to Franklin Pierce University for its final road game this Saturday afternoon. The Hawks will then host Assumption College next Wednesday and American International the following Saturday to close out the 2015 campaign.
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