WORCESTER, Mass. – The No. 15 Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team jumped out to an early 6-1 first quarter lead and never looked back, taking its regular season finale by a 16-8 score over Assumption University on Tuesday.
With the win, the Hawks improve to 9-4 on the season and 7-3 in Northeast-10 Conference play. The Greyhounds will see their season come to a close at 4-9 overall and 3-7 in league games.
Saint Anselm will enter the NE10 postseason as the third seed and will host the sixth-seed Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday, Apr. 30. The contest is scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. start from Grappone Stadium. Saint Anselm is riding a five game win streak entering postseason play and will be making its sixth appearance in the NE10 postseason since the end of the 2015 season.
Sophomore Nick Larsen (Northborough, Mass.) led the Hawks with five points, coming from two goals and three assists while sophomore Noah Larsen (Northborough, Mass.) followed closely with two goals and two helpers for four points. Saint Anselm had 10 goal scorers in the contest with sophomore Chase Lilly (Trumbull, Conn.), junior Callen Willwerth (Northborough, Mass.), junior Jack Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.), and freshman Joe Lombardi (Holliston, Mass.) joining Nick Larsen and Noah Larsen with two goals each.
With one goal in the game, graduate student Sean Tomaszewski (Arlington, Mass.) has scored 39 goals this season which is ninth-most in a single season in program history.
Junior AJ Caprio (Scituate, Mass.) was 11-for-28 in face-offs in the contest. Caprio tied a game-high with seven ground balls, and extends his streak of five or more ground balls to seven games. The junior is tied for ninth with 62 ground balls in a single season. His average of 5.64 ground balls per game in fifth best in team annals.
Senior CJ Hart (Reading, Mass.) made three saves on five shots on goal in the first half, recording the win. Hart moves to seventh all-time in saves at 343, surpassing Pat Acone '11 who made 341 career stops. Junior Will Davis (Franklin, Mass.) stopped a career-high 11 shots on goal in 30 minutes of second half action.
Senior Jack Wells (Melrose, Mass.) opened the scoring at 13:48 of the opening frame but Assumption's Cameron Theriault quickly responded just 32 seconds later to get the hosts on the board.
Saint Anselm used a five-goal run that stretched 5:20 of the quarter to grab a 6-1 lead. A goal by Jackson Bulger snapped the Hawks run but late goals from freshman Colin Mulvey (Reading, Mass.) and Willwerth gave Saint Anselm an 8-2 lead through the first 15 minutes of play.
The Hawks opened the second quarter with four goals. That pushed the Hawks out to a 12-2 lead headed to the half.
Assumption would score first in the third quarter but goals from Lombardi, Noah Larsen, and Nick Larsen gave the Hawks their largest lead of the game, 12, at 15-3.
The Greyhounds netted five of the game's final six goals but the hot start by the Hawks was too much to overcome, posting a 16-8 win to conclude the regular season.
Saint Anselm held a 44-32 advantage in shots including a 28-22 edge in shots on goal. Saint Anselm was 25-28 in clears compared to 14-16 for Assumption. The Hawks also collected 41 ground balls while the Greyhounds gathered 30.
