MANCHESTER, N.H. – The nationally-ranked No. 11 Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team came away with a convincing 13-7 win over No. 7 ranked Pace University on Tuesday afternoon in a battle for the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Conference postseason. Seniors
Jake Davis (Franklin, Mass.) and
Nick Larsen (Northborough, Mass.) led the Hawks with five points apiece in the win.
UP NEXT:
- Saint Anselm has earned a First Round bye ahead of the Northeast-10 Conference postseason and will await its opponent for the Semifinals.
Score: No. 11 Saint Anselm 13, No. 7 Pace 7
Records: No. 11 Saint Anselm 9-3 (7-2 NE10), No. 7 Pace 11-2 (7-2 NE10)
Location: Manchester, N.H. (Grappone Stadium)
Date: Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Attendance: 247
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Saint Anselm fifth-year Craig Yannone (Lynnfield, Mass.) won the opening faceoff and took the game's opening shot attempt. That was saved by Pace goaltender Jack Kern and a follow-up attempt by fifth-year Jack Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) bounced up and off the cross-bar.
- The Hawks defense came to play early, forcing a pair of early Setters turnovers. That allowed Saint Anselm to take it down to the offensive end where sophomore Brendan Crowley (Leicester, Mass.) found junior Will Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) up top. His low sidearm attempt bounced into the net to make it 1-0.
- Davis made it a 2-0 game with an unassisted tally at the 9:48 mark of the first quarter, but Pace responded right away with a man-up goal just over a minute later to make it 2-1.
- After a turnover was forced in the backend by senior Jonathan Holland (Derry, N.H.), sophomore Colby Goodchild (Reading, Mass.) scooped up the ground ball and ran in transition for Saint Anselm. Nick Larsen then linked up with senior Noah Larsen (Northborough, Mass.) with a pass to the top of the crease, and Noah's shot gave the Hawks back a two-goal advantage.
- Just over a minute later, sophomore Chris Claflin (Newton, Mass.) set up Davis for his second score of the game on a low right-handed shot that beat Kern to put Saint Anselm up by three goals.
- Davis had a wide open look in the first couple of minutes to start the second quarter. The senior tried to beat the goalie five-hole, but Kern came up with the save to keep the score at 4-1.
- Will Andrews picked up his second score of the game with 10:24 left in the half. Noah Larsen found the junior, who made a one handed catch with the stick and ripped a shot into the cage to make it a 5-1 game.
- The Setters got a goal back with 9:34 left in the half. Ryan Kemp found Dylan Ruland for an easy catch-and-shoot at the top of the crease to bring Pace back within three goals.
- Nick Larsen then poured in two consecutive scores within a 1:07 span to put the Hawks in front by five goals for the first time of the game.
- With 4:09 remaining in the second quarter, Colin Reese made a pass from behind the net to Daniel Zabbia, whose laser of a shot made it a 7-3 game. After having two shots fail to cross the goal line, Rafael Rodriguez, Jr. beat the Hawks goaltender for the second straight Pace goal shortly after to trim the deficit back down to three.
- In the closing minutes of the first half, Saint Anselm's freshman goaltender Finn Granara (Reading, Mass.) made a couple of timely stops, allowing Saint Anselm to maintain a 7-4 edge at the halftime break.
- Nick Larsen opened the second half with his third goal of the game just 48 seconds in, a straight-away bounce shot off a feed by Davis to give Saint Anselm an 8-4 advantage.
- Pace got one back on a man-up goal by Rodriguez, Jr., but Noah Larsen added his second tally of the afternoon. The senior attacker took it himself and wrapped around the left side of the cage before bouncing a shot in off the ground to make it 9-5, Hawks.
- After being give an extra-man opportunity, Saint Anselm once again capitalized. Nick Larsen tossed a pass back up top to Jack Andrews. His shot trickled past the goalie and gave the home team a five-goal advantage.
- With 2:37 left in the third, Saint Anselm was called for a slashing penalty and were put on a man-down situation. Granara came up with two huge saves to preserve the 10-5 lead.
- At the other end, a left-handed rip by Claflin off a feed by Davis gave the Hawks their largest lead of the game to that point, 11-5, which they took into the fourth.
- Sophomore Maverick Lyon (Albany, Ore.) got into the scoring column in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter off a feed from Noah Larsen. Junior Colin Mulvey (Reading, Mass.) then came from behind the cage and beat the goalie high to make it a 13-5 Hawks lead.
- Caden Hallinan scored just the second goal of the half for the Setters with 8:43 remaining in the game off a feed from Kemp, cutting the deficit back down to seven goals. Ruland added another for Pace with under three minutes to play, but the Hawks were able to successfully kill off the remaining time and secure the 13-7 win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Pace held a slight edge in total shot attempts, 37-36, but Saint Anselm led, 22-18, in shots on goal.
- The Hawks controlled the faceoff X by winning 15 out of 24. Yannone won all 15 faceoffs for Saint Anselm and had seven ground balls. As a team, the Hawks had 28 ground balls while the Setters had 32.
- Both teams were even with 18 turnovers apiece in the game, with Pace's defense causing 10 and Saint Anselm's defensive unit forcing seven.
- The Setters went 2-for-4 during extra-man opportunities compared to the Hawks, who went 1-for-3.
- Nick Larsen led Saint Anselm with a hat trick to go along with a pair of assists for five points. Davis also had a five-point game with two goals and three assists, while Noah Larsen registered two goals and two helpers. Will Andrews was the only other Hawk with a multi-goal performance and four other players had one goal.
- Rodriguez, Jr. and Zabbia led the way for Pace with two goals each.
- In between the pipes, Granara allowed just seven goals and made 11 saves, while Kern allowed 12 goals in just over three quarters of action after making four saves. Hunter Wilcox replaced Kern in the fourth and made five saves while allowing a goal.
- This marked the 24th all-time meeting between these two programs. Saint Anselm is now 12-12 overall against Pace and had won two of the last three over the Setters.
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