Box Score
ALBANY, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team rallied from an 8-5 fourth quarter deficit to rally for a 9-8 win in overtime over the College of Saint Rose on Saturday afternoon in Albany, N.Y. The Hawks improve to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the NE-10, while the Golden Knights drop to 2-6 and 0-3 in league games.
Junior Alex Pacitti (Foxboro, Mass.) scored four goals, including the game-winner with 1:24 remaining in overtime, to lead Saint Anselm to the win. Patrick Sweeney (North Andover, Mass.) scored twice, while Ben Warren (Georgetown, Mass.), James Olsen (Westford, Vt.), and Mark Vitello (Weymouth, Mass.) each added goals. Warren registered the only two assists of the day for the visitors.
Lucas DeAngelo (Byfield, Mass.) made nine saves and scooped up four groundballs while picking up his fourth win of the year. Chris McCormack (Ipswich, Mass.) won 9-of-16 face-offs and grabbed five groundballs to tie Warren for the team lead, with Derrick LaBranche (Bow, N.H.) causing five turnovers to lead the Hawk defense.
Matt Graham and Connor Moore scored two goals apiece to lead Saint Rose, while Cameron Fisher, Josh Frese, Jon Munroe, and Tyler Mello also added tallies for the Golden Knights. Liam Guiton stopped 16 shots in goal in the setback.
Olsen opened the scoring in the game at the 12:46 mark of the first period before the Golden Knights scored the final two goals of the frame off the sticks of Moore and Munroe to take a 2-1 lead after one. Matt Graham scored on the man advantage to give Saint Rose a 3-1 lead early in the second period before Pacitti's first goal of the game cut the deficit to one. Cameron Fisher scored the final tally of the half to give the Golden Knights a 4-2 advantage headed into the break.
The third quarter was evenly matched as each team scored three times in the frame. Ben Warren struck first, but Mello and Moore scored back-to-back for Saint Rose to keep it a 6-3 game. Warren found Sweeney with the extra attacker to pull within 6-4, and Pacitti's second of the game got the Hawks to within one at 6-5. Josh Frese ended the run with a goal to make it a 7-5 game headed into the final quarter.
Matt Graham put Saint Rose on top 8-5 with 11:06 remaining in the fourth period. Mark Vitello started the comeback with a man-up goal just over two minutes later, and Patrick Sweeney pulled the Hawks back to within one at 8-7 with only 2:38 left to play in regulation. After a penalty was called on the Golden Knights, Pacitti took advantage of the extra attacker, taking a feed from Warren and scoring with 2:12 to play to tie the game at 8-8.
Both teams had chances in the closing minutes, but DeAngelo stoned Matt Graham with 39 seconds remaining and Saint Anselm raced up the field and called timeout. Out of the break, Xavier Quinn (Rye, N.H.) had a chance to win it in the final seconds, but he was stopped by Liam Guiton as the game spilled into overtime.
The Hawks controlled play in the extra period possessing the ball for most of the period. After a shot from Ben Warren sailed high with 1:43 to play, Pacitti eventually took the ball and scored for Saint Anselm, give the Hawks the come-from-behind 9-8 victory.
Saint Anselm outshot Saint Rose at a 41-33 clip while committing only 21 turnovers to 25 for the Golden Knights. Saint Rose won 10-of-19 face-offs and also won the groundball battle, 36-34. Both teams were effective on clears as the Hawks went 20-of-23 and Saint Rose went 21-of-26.
The Hawks will try and make it five-straight wins on Tuesday afternoon when they take on Franklin Pierce University in a Northeast-10 Conference game scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
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