MANCHESTER, N.H. – Saint Anselm College suffered a 13-12 setback to rival Southern New Hampshire University on Wednesday night in a Northeast-10 Conference men's lacrosse matchup in Manchester, N.H.

Box Score

Saint Anselm (7-4, 5-4 NE-10) held an 11-7 lead with 9:25 to play in the third quarter, but SNHU (8-4, 7-3 NE-10) scored six of the final seven goals in the game to rally for the one goal victory.

Mark Vitello (Weymouth, Mass.) scored four goals while Ben Warren (Georgetown, Mass.) added two goals and an assist for a three point night. Jake Stokes (Beverly, Mass.), Alex Pacitti (Foxboro, Mass.), Matt Johnson (Watertown, Mass.), Ryan Hesseltine (Westford, Mass.), Derrick LaBranche (Bow, N.H.) and Xavier Quinn (Rye, N.H.) also found the back of the net for the Hawks.

Lucas DeAngelo (Byfield, Mass.) stopped seven shots in the defeat. Chris McCormack (Ipswich, Mass.) won 18-of-27 face-offs on the night and grabbed a game-high 15 groundballs to lead the defense. Jake Stokes also added five groundballs, while Ryan Sullivan (Canton, Mass.) caused a game-high three turnovers.

SNHU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first quarter before Quinn and Pacitti answered for the Hawks to tie the game at 2-2 with 9:16 to play. The Penmen's Zach Jacobs put SNHU back on top at 3-2, but goals from Warren and Johnson gave Saint Anselm their first lead of the game. Devin Calkins sandwiched tallies around a Jake Stokes goal to make it a 5-5 game at the end of one quarter.

Ben Warren opened the second quarter with his second tally of the game to push the Hawks in front 6-5. Two scores from the home team put the Penmen back in front 7-6, but Vitello scored the final two goals of the half to put the Hawks in front 8-7 headed into the break.

Vitello scored the first goal of the third quarter and goals from Hesseltine and Derrick LaBranche made it a 5-0 run by the Hawks and gave the visitors their largest lead of the game at 11-7. SNHU answered with a run of its own, scoring three-straight times to cut the deficit to 11-10 headed into the final quarter of play.

The Hawks stopped the bleeding with another goal from Vitello to go back up by two, but the Penmen scored the final three goals of the game to pull in front 13-12 with 5:34 remaining in the game. Saint Anselm had their chances down the stretch – including a pair of shots in the final minute of regulation – but could not find the back of the net to drop the one goal decision.

Saint Anselm held a 50-38 advantage in shots in the game and grabbed 35 groundballs to 29 for the home team. The Hawks were a perfect 10-for-10 on clear attempts and committed only 18 turnovers to 20 for SNHU.

The Hawks are back in action next Tuesday when they host Bentley University in a 7:15 p.m. game. Saint Anselm will honor their seven seniors in Alex Buxbaum (Medway, Mass.), Jake Stokes, Ben Warren, Ryan Sullivan, Jeff Boyle (Manchester, N.H.), James O'Neill (East Walpole, Mass.) and Jimmy McCurdy (Canton, Mass.).

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