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Men's lacrosse goal celebration
Hunter Newsham

PREVIEW: No. 15 men's lacrosse, RV Southern N.H. to open NE10 postseason

4/29/2022 12:05:00 PM

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team has qualified for the Northeast-10 Conference playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. The Hawks will face-off against Southern New Hampshire University at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday in the NE10 First Round.

No. 15 SAINT ANSELM COLLEGE HAWKS (9-4, 7-3 NE10)
Roster | Schedule and Results | Statistics | News

RV SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY PENMEN (7-5, 5-5 NE10)
Roster | Schedule and Results | Statistics | News

Saint Anselm, the No. 3 seed, finished the season with a 7-3 record in NE10 play to tie with Pace. By virtue of a head-to-head victory over the Setters on Apr. 20, the Hawks locked down the third seed one year after racking up a 10-0 record versus the league in 2021.

Southern New Hampshire logged a 5-5 mark in conference play, securing the sixth and final seed in the NE10 postseason. The Penmen have qualified for the NE10 postseason for the first time since 2017 – all teams earned a playoff berth in 2021.

Admission to the NE10 postseason games will be free for all spectators. Fans are reminded that Grappone Stadium is a pet-free facility and no alcoholic beverages are permitted at the facility.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM

  • Saint Anselm has ranked first in the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's coaches' poll all season, with the exception of the Apr. 11 poll which saw the Hawks fall to second. Since that poll, however, the Hawks have returned to the top of the New England poll in each of the last two weeks.
  • Saint Anselm leads the NE10 in scoring offense (15.23) and opponent clear percentage (73.8%), ranking fourth nationally in the latter statistic. The team is generating 23.85 points of offense per game this season, ranking second in the NE10 and 13th nationally.
  • The Hawks have maintained discipline with the ball, committing just 15 turnovers per game, on average, to rank sixth in all of NCAA Division II in fewest miscues per tilt. Saint Anselm has also successfully completed north of 87.9% of its clears, ranking ninth in the country.
  • Junior Jack Robinson (Wilbraham, Mass.) leads Saint Anselm (and ranks eighth in NCAA Division II) with 2.5 assists per game, on average. His 2.54 goals per game also ranks within the top 10 in the NE10, trailing the league leader, teammate Sean Tomaszewski (Arlington, Mass.) with an average of 3.0 per tilt.
  • Robinson needs just six more points to reach 100 for his career. To date, he has logged 41 goals with 53 assists for 94 points (41-53=94) in 31 career contests on the Hilltop.
  • Tomaszewski needs just one goal on Saturday against Southern New Hampshire to reach 40 on the season. Only five student-athletes have previously reached that threshold in team history.
  • Netminder CJ Hart (Reading, Mass.) has a 9.45 goals-against average, ranking fourth in the NE10, and his 9.85 saves per game ranks sixth in the league. He owns a .549 save percentage, the sixth-finest figure among NE10 backstops.
  • Hart's 8.12 career goals-against average is the fifth-best rate among active NCAA Division II netminders. In his Saint Anselm career, Hart has registered a .579 save percentage in 44 career games for the Hawks, logging a 26-8 overall record.
  • Junior Jack Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) is just five points away from setting a single-season record for point scoring – in 13 games to date, he has posted 33 goals and eight assists for 41 points (33-8=41) and can pass his 2021 total of 45 points, accomplished in 15 games.
  • Head Coach Michael Sciamanna can reach 60 career victories with a win on Saturday against Saint Anselm. Coming into the game, he has a 59-30 (66.3%) record on the Hilltop since joining the program prior to the 2016 season.
  • Saint Anselm owns a 25-6 record (80.6%) record in its last 31 games. When playing on the Hilltop in that span, the Hawks are 11-3 (78.5%).

SCOUTING SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE

  • The Penmen carry a 7-5 record this season into play after falling to nationally-ranked Bentley in the regular-season finale, 16-14. Prior to that defeat, Southern New Hampshire had won six in a row which stood as the second-longest in program history.
  • Southern New Hampshire is sixth nationally with a 65.1% face-off percentage, fueled by reigning NE10 Defensive Player of the Week Gennaro Marra. On the season, he boasts a 66.2% face-off percentage to rank second in the NE10 and eighth nationally. Marra also ranks second in NCAA Division II with 12.33 ground balls per game for the Penmen.
  • Ryan Auger is setting the offensive pace for the Penmen, scoring 21 goals with 24 assists for 45 points (21-24=45). He is trailed by Tristan Pietz and his 22 goals and 20 assists for 42 points (22-20=42).
  • Defenseman Cam Cote is seventh nationally in caused turnovers per game (2.17), leading the NE10 in that metric. He is seventh in the conference with 4.42 ground balls per game this season.
  • Ronan DePaul has seen the majority of the starts for Southern New Hampshire, posting a 2-5 overall record and a 14.62 goals-against average. Alex Sturgess has made four starts for SNHU, racking up a 4-0 record and a 9.30 goals-against average.
  • The Penmen are coached by Paul Calkins, in his 34th season at the helm. He has won 168 games since joining the program prior to the 1989 season. Calkins is the longest-tenured active head coach at one school at the Division II level.

ALL-TIME, NE10 POSTSEASON

  • Saint Anselm owns a 5-14 (26.3%) record in the NE10 playoffs, making 15 prior appearances in the postseason.
  • Southern New Hampshire is 2-9 (18.2%) when playing in the league postseason, making the semifinals once (2016).
  • Saint Anselm has finished as the NE10 runner-up in two of the last three championships conducted by the conference.
  • Southern New Hampshire and Saint Anselm have never met in the NE10 postseason.

ALL-TIME vs. SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE

  • Saint Anselm has won 20 of the 30 all-time games against Southern New Hampshire, including a 21-13 victory against the Penmen on Saturday, Mar. 12.
  • Versus the Penmen earlier this season, Tomaszewski potted a career-high five goals and added two assists for seven points to lead the Saint Anselm offense.
  • The Hawks own a seven-game winning streak over SNHU, scoring at least 15 goals in each of those tilts. The Penmen have reached north of 10 goals twice, scoring 13 in this season's earlier game.
  • Out of the 10 losses by Saint Anselm against the Penmen, just three (the first three meetings in team history) have been by double digits and the rest have been decided by five or fewer goals.
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