MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team trailed by two goals near the start of the third quarter, but a 10-0 scoring spurt by the Hawks pushed the hosts to a 16-10 victory over Bentley University on Saturday at Grappone Stadium.

Saint Anselm, the No. 19-ranked team in NCAA Division II according to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association, moves to 2-0 on the season and to 2-0 against the Northeast-10 Conference. Bentley, making its season debut, drops to 0-1.

Seniors Matt Ward (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Ryan Richards (Mendon, Mass.) led Saint Anselm with six points apiece, the former extending his point scoring streak to 13 games with six tallies against Bentley. Richards racked up a career-high four goals and two assists, adding three ground balls as well. Sophomore Jack Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) cashed in four goals on the day.

With the score tied at halftime, Bentley scored the first two goals of the third quarter to create an 8-6 advantage. From that point onward, however, Saint Anselm took control of the game and scored the game's next 10 goals to build a 16-8 bulge. The Falcons tacked on two late goals, but the 10-goal streak fueled a six-goal Saint Anselm victory.

The Hawks controlled the opening half, outshooting Bentley by a 29-to-15 margin and collecting 19 of the game's 30 ground balls to that point. The Falcons offense clicked in the game's opening minutes, building a 3-2 lead despite unassisted Saint Anselm scores by Richards and Andrews.

Saint Anselm assumed a 5-4 lead with an Andrews marker just 73 seconds into the second quarter, but Bentley drew the game even shortly thereafter. Tied at five, the teams traded man-up scores down the stretch to create a six-all tie heading into the break.

Bentley ultimately scored four of the game's five goals near the midpoint of the game, building a game-high 8-6 lead between the second and third quarters. Senior Griffin Shoemaker (Shirley, Mass.) cut into the Bentley momentum with a goal before Andrews tied the game just 29 seconds later, creating an 8-8 draw with 11:23 to go in the third.

Ward fired home each of his team's next four goals, building a 12-8 lead that was added to with a man-up goals from Andrews and a man-down goal from Richards late in the third quarter. Freshman Noah Larsen (Northborough, Mass.) scored the first goal of his career with 5:59 to go in the game and Ward added another goal to his season total of 11 with 4:53 left.

Senior CJ Hart (Reading, Mass.) made 10 saves on the day, earning his second victory of the season in goal for Saint Anselm. He remains undefeated in each of his last five starts dating back to the 2020 season. Keaton Roarick made 19 saves for Bentley in the losing effort, conceding 16 goals on the day.

Sophomore Ryan Slattery (North Andover, Mass.) had five caused turnovers on defense for the Hawks and has logged 16 in his five-game career to date. Senior Sean Tomaszewski (Arlington, Mass.) had a career-high two caused turnovers and classmate Thomas Mapstone (Andover, Mass.) had seven ground balls to lead Saint Anselm.

Kristopher Campbell and Eric Makhatadze each logged five points of offense for Bentley, the latter leading the team with three goals. Cam Bartolomeo came on late in the game at the face-off "X" and won 10-of-15 draws down the stretch.

Saint Anselm held statistical advantages in shots taken (58-to-35) and ground balls (41-to-31) while committing fewer turnovers (31-to-16).