Box Score
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team overcame a five-goal second half deficit to force overtime, but fell to #7 Adelphi University 13-12 on Wednesday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Conference matchup in Garden City, N.Y.
The Hawks (5-2, 3-2 NE-10) scored seven of the final nine goals of the second half to rally from a 10-5 deficit early in the third quarter and force overtime. The Panthers' (8-2, 6-1 NE-10) Salvatore Tuttle won the game for Adelphi with his fifth goal of the game 2:03 into the extra frame.
Ben Warren (Georgetown, Mass.) had a seven point day with a hat-trick and four assists with Alex Pacitti (Foxboro, Mass.) adding three goals of his own in the setback. Dylan Ryan (Framingham, Mass.) netted a pair of goals, while Brennan Quackenbush (Marshfield, Mass.), James Olsen (Westford, Vt.), Mark Vitello (Weymouth, Mass.), and Jimmy McCurdy (Canton, Mass.) also added tallies.
Lucas DeAngelo (Byfield, Mass.) made 15 saves while dropping to 5-2 this year. James Olsen and Derrick LaBranche (Bow, N.H.) led the Hawks with six groundballs apiece, with LaBranche adding four caused turnovers.
Adelphi held a 41-27 advantage in shots and won 27-of-30 face-offs in the game. Saint Anselm committed 20 turnovers to 25 for the Panthers, with the Hawks also holding an edge in groundballs (35-24). Both teams were effective on clear attempts with Saint Anselm going 21-for-28 and Adelphi converting 18-of-21 attempts.
Alex Pacitti opened the scoring with an unassisted tally, but Adelphi scored the next two goals to take a 2-1 lead. Pacitti answered again to tie the game before the Panthers scored two more goals to go up 4-2. Ben Warren made it a 4-3 game near the end of first quarter as he found the back of the net with 39 seconds to play in the period.
Paul Bentz and Gordon Purdie, Jr. scored back-to-back man-advantage goals to take a 6-3 lead to open the second quarter for Adelphi. Warren picked up his first assist of the game off a goal from James Olsen to pull the Hawks back to within two at 6-4, and the Panthers sandwiched goals around a Warren tally to make it an 8-5 game headed into the half.
Adelphi scored the first two goals of the second half to take a commanding 10-5 lead with 10:43 to play in the third quarter. Jimmy McCurdy started the comeback with his first goal of the season before Dylan Ryan and Alex Pacitti capped a 3-0 run to end the period to leave the Hawks trailing 10-8 headed into the final quarter.
Tuttle's third goal of the game put the Panthers on top 11-8, but the Hawks responded again with three-straight goals off the sticks of Ryan, Warren, and Quackenbush to knot the game at 11-11 with 6:41 to play in regulation. Tuttle scored again to give Adelphi a short-lived 12-11 lead as Mark Vitello found the back of the net with just over three minutes remaining in the fourth to tie the game at 12-all.
The Hawks eventually regained possession with just over 90 seconds remaining and worked the clock down to less than a minute to play. James Olsen attempted a shot from the right side that was stopped by John McGrath and no one could control possession as time ran out on regulation and the game spilled into overtime.
Adelphi won the opening face-off of overtime and quickly called a timeout. After a prolonged possession, Tuttle eventually got the ball behind the net and worked his way around the goal, turning over his shoulder and shooting high and into the goal to give Adelphi the 13-12 victory.
Saint Anselm will host #2 Le Moyne College on Saturday morning in a 10 a.m. NE-10 meeting at Grappone Stadium.
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