ERIE, Pa. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team saw its historic season come to an end on Sunday in the Quarterfinals round of the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship.
The eighth-ranked Hawks fell to No. 1-ranked Le Moyne by an 11-7 margin in the game played on the campus of Mercyhurst University. Saint Anselm ends its season with a 13-2 overall record after earning the program's first NCAA Division II postseason victory on Friday against Seton Hill in overtime.
The Hawks opened their 2021 season with 12 consecutive victories, winning the Northeast-10 Conference's Northeast Division Regular Season Championship for the first time in team history. Logging back-to-back postseason wins against Assumption (receiving votes in the USILA national coaches' poll) and No. 14-ranked Pace, the Hawks qualified for their second NE10 title game in three years.
Saint Anselm hosted Le Moyne on May 8 in the NE10 Championship, falling to the Dolphins by a 9-4 margin. Despite snapping the team's 15-game winning streak that dated back to the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Hawks earned their first NCAA postseason berth and won the right to compete in a First Round fixture on Friday, handing No. 6-ranked Seton Hill a narrow defeat in overtime.
Earning a First Round bye to Sunday's quarterfinals contest, Le Moyne moves to 13-0 with Sunday's victory and will take on the hosts from Mercyhurst in the NCAA Semifinals on Sunday, May 23. The Dolphins own the nation's top ranking, according to the most recent USILA national coaches poll.
The Hawks held several statistical advantages over Le Moyne, including shots taken (45-32), face-off victories (15-6), and saves (15-14), but Saint Anselm committed 22 turnovers and missed the net with 24 of its shots. The stout Dolphins defense conceded seven goals, but directly caused 11 turnovers and helped start 23 successful clearances.
Sophomore Jack Robinson (Wilbraham, Mass.) led Saint Anselm with two goals and an assist for three points (2-1=3). Scoring a man-up goal with five minutes to go in regulation time, he set the single-season record for extra-player goals with nine on the season. The original team record of eight extra-man markers was established by Ryan Mee '14 in 2013.
Hawks netminder CJ Hart (Reading, Mass.) made 15 saves against Le Moyne on Sunday after posting a career-high 21 rejections against the Dolphins in the NE10 Championship game on May 8. The winningest goaltender in the team's single-season history, he finishes a stellar Hawks career with a 13-2 record in 2021 and is the owner of a career 17-4 record across 31 career games.
Le Moyne opened up a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, firing 12 of the first 21 shots of the contest. The Hawks had several offensive opportunities in the game's first 10-plus minutes, firing seven shots during that span, but three were saved by Dolphins backstop Frank Delia and the rest were not on target.
Colin Sypek had the game's first goal, finding the back of the net with 4:28 to go in the opening quarter. Le Moyne won each of the next two face-offs and scored on each possession, building a three-goal bulge heading into the second quarter of play.
Le Moyne capitalized on the first Hawks turnover of the second quarter, pushing its lead to four goals with Matt Hutchings' first goal of the game just 39 seconds in. Saint Anselm responded by second quarter markers from Robinson and senior Matt Ward (Shrewsbury, Mass.), the latter scoring with the extra-man.
Saint Anselm won another face-off following Ward's goal, but two Saint Anselm shots did not find their way into the net. Le Moyne capitalized on a Saint Anselm turnover shortly after the two misfires and ran the ball up the field to score, building a 5-2 lead with 7:46 left in the first half.
The teams traded goals right off the face-off, keeping Le Moyne in front by three heading down the stretch. After the Le Moyne marker, the Hawks got possession after another face-off victory by sophomore Craig Yannone (Lynnfield, Mass.), but a Hawks turnover preceded the next Dolphins goal to create a four-goal deficit with 5:49 left in the second.
Senior Ryan Melley (Reading, Mass.) scored an unassisted goal with 3:37 left, re-establishing a three-goal shortfall for the Hawks, but Le Moyne won the ensuing face-off and scored 35 seconds later to re-create an 8-4 lead that stood up heading into the halftime break.
Le Moyne, among the nation's finest teams in terms of shooting percentage, cashed in with five goals on six second-quarter shots to double up the Hawks at halftime. Yannone was responsible for winning six of the stanza's nine draws, but the efficient Le Moyne shooters punished Hawks turnovers. Saint Anselm also misfired on 10 of its 21 first-half shots.
Saint Anselm controlled play to open the second half, creating seven shot attempts. Hart also stood tall in net for the Hawks, making four saves in the first 10-plus minutes of the third quarter. It was Le Moyne, however, that found the back of the net first to create a 9-4 lead with 6:42 to go in the third.
Freshman Nick Larsen (Northborough, Mass.) kept his team in the game with a goal less than a minute after a clutch face-off win by Yannone, shrinking the Le Moyne lead to four at 5:58 of the third quarter. Another Yannone win at the face-off "X" gave Saint Anselm another opportunity to reduce the Dolphins lead, but two Hawks turnovers and a shot that was saved by Delia kept themselves off the scoreboard.
Le Moyne scored the final goal of the third quarter with 2:25 left in the third, giving the Dolphins a five-goal lead at that point. The Hawks stepped up with 10 shots in the third quarter and reeled in eight ground balls, but were able to muster just one goal in the third while conceding two to Le Moyne shooters.
The Hawks continued to apply fourth-quarter pressure, firing four shots in the opening four-plus minutes, but could not convert. The Hawks had two turnovers and committed a penalty that ultimately led to a Le Moyne man-up marker from Hutchings with 10:23 left in regulation time, creating a game-high deficit of six goals for Saint Anselm.
Saint Anselm generated additional offensive opportunities down the stretch, firing three shots across the game's next four-plus minutes. The pressure ultimately led to a penalty whistled on Hutchings and, eventually, a man-up goal by sophomore Jack Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) for his 34th tally of the season to cut the Le Moyne lead to 11-6.
Robinson's historic man-up goal with exactly five minutes left in regulation time produced the final 11-7 score. Saint Anselm won its 15th face-off of the afternoon, but was unable to score on its final four possessions – the Hawks posted two turnovers and had two shots saved by Delia down the stretch.
Senior Griffin Shoemaker (Shirley, Mass.) posted a goal and tied Yannone for the team lead with six ground balls. Senior Joseph Hartigan (Brookline, Mass.) caused four of his team's seven forced turnovers on the afternoon.
Hutchings, the NE10 Player of the Year, scored three goals and added a game-high four assists for seven points (3-4=7). Ross Filtch had two goals and an assist and Sypek, who got his team on the board first, finished with two tallies. Delia ended the game with 14 saves, conceding seven goals to the Hawks.
Despite playing just 15 games, Saint Anselm ended the year with program records in point scoring (384), points per game (25.6), goals (241), goals per game (16.07), ground balls (629), game-winning goals (13), and goals-against average (6.44).
