GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The No. 2 seed and nationally-ranked No. 8 Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team fell in the Northeast-10 Conference (NE10) Championship game on Saturday afternoon against No. 1 seed and nationally-ranked No. 4 Adelphi University by a final score of 10-9.
UP NEXT:
- The Hawks have earned an at-large bid in the 2024 NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Tournament. The team earned a No. 3 seed and will host No. 6 seed Bentley University on Wednesday, May 8th at 4:00 p.m. from Grappone Stadium.
Score: No. 8 (2 seed) Saint Anselm 9, No. 4 (1 seed) Adelphi 10
Records: No. 8 (2 seed) Saint Anselm 10-4; No. 4 (1 seed) Adelphi 15-2
Location: Garden City, N.Y. (Motamed Field)
Date: Saturday, May 4, 2024
Attendance: 302
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Adelphi's Kyle Lewis attempted the first shot of the championship game in the first minute of play that hit the post. After Saint Anselm successfully cleared the ball, fifth-year Jack Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) forced the first save of the game by Adelphi goaltender Dylan Renner at the other end.
- The Panthers struck first with a goal by Kyle Steinbach at the 11:03 mark of the opening quarter to take a 1-0 lead.
- The Hawks quickly answered as sophomore Quinn Gannon (Scituate, Mass.) won the ensuing faceoff and carried the ball straight to the cage, where he fired and scored his first goal of the season to tie the game up at 1-1.
- Saint Anselm continued to push their attack, outshooting the Panthers, six-to-one, in the following four minutes with Andrews and senior Jake Davis (Franklin, Mass.) both hitting the post. Renner, the NE10's Goaltender and Co-Player of the Year, came up big for Adelphi during that stretch with three saves.
- The Panthers then produced three consecutive scores, including two in the final two minutes of the first. Eamon Hall scored twice during that sequence for Adelphi to help give them a 4-1 advantage.
- The home team picked up right where they left offensively by notching two more scores in the opening four minutes of the second quarter, giving them a five-goal cushion. Braden Donnellan and Jason Rebaudo each scored for the Panthers.
- Midway through the second, sophomore Colby Goodchild (Reading, Mass.) forced a turnover on the defensive end and collected the ground ball for the Hawks. They quickly brought it down to the attacking end, where sophomore Maverick Lyon (Albany, Ore.) disrupted the Panthers momentum with a score off a feed from Davis to make it 6-2.
- 30 seconds later after another faceoff win by Gannon, Davis hit the crossbar with a shot. Saint Anselm kept possession and ended up making it a three-goal game with senior Nick Larsen (Northborough, Mass.) setting up Andrews for his first of the game.
- Hall secured his hat trick for the Panthers on his third goal with 5:19 left in the half, but the Hawks responded right after. Freshman Evan Spillane (East Longmeadow, Mass.) won the ensuing faceoff and sprinted straight to goal, where he eventually scored his second of the season to make it 7-4.
- Gannone won another faceoff after that, giving Saint Anselm another offensive possession. Senior Noah Larsen (Northborough, Mass.) scored the fourth goal of the quarter for the Hawks to bring the Panthers' lead down to just two goals with 3:35 left in the half.
- However, Hall then found the back of the cage for the fourth time, giving Adelphi an 8-5 lead at halftime.
- A solid third quarter on both ends of the field allowed Saint Anselm to tie the score at 8-8. Less than a minute into the second half, junior Colin Mulvey (Reading, Mass.) tallied his 22nd goal of the season with sophomore Chris Claflin (Newton, Mass.) picking up the assist.
- In the final two minutes of the third, Noah Larsen notched consecutive scores to even things up heading to the final period. Adelphi produced 11 shots during the third quarter, but Saint Anselm's freshman goaltender Finn Granara (Reading, Mass.) made five stops to keep the Panthers off the scoreboard.
- Mulvey drew iron to start the fourth and Granara made another save, but at the 10:48 mark, Logan Tucker found the back of the cage to put Adelphi back up, 9-8.
- As the quarter winded down, Granara kept his team down by just one with three consecutive saves. After Nick Larsen had his potential game-tying shot denied by Renner, Lewis gave the Panthers an insurance tally with 2:08 remaining in the game.
- Down by two, the Hawks continued to battle and put five more shots on net, with Renner making two more saves to keep his team up by a pair.
- Andrews eventually scored his second of the game in the final second of play, but the Saint Anselm ran out of time and Adelphi held on to secure the NE10 title.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Adelphi held a slight 41-39 edge in total shots attempts, while both teams posted 24 shots on goal in the game.
- The Hawks scooped up 35 total ground balls in comparison to the Panthers with just 14.
- Adelphi converted 22-of-23 on clear attempts, while Saint Anselm went 12-of-17.
- The Hawks completely dominated from the X, winning all 21 faceoffs that featured 11 wins from Gannon and 10 from Spillane.
- Adelphi had 10 turnovers in the contest along with 11 caused turnovers, while Saint Anselm recorded 18 giveaways with eight caused turnovers on the defensive end.
- The Panthers went 1-for-3 on extra-man opportunities, while the Hawks were unable to convert on any of their four player-up chances.
- Noah Larsen led the Hawks with his hat trick along with two ground balls and a caused turnover. Andrews posted a pair of goals after firing seven shots and picked up one ground ball. Four other Hawks registered one goal apiece in the game including Gannon, Lyon, Mulvey, and Spillane.
- Davis and Nick Larsen both recorded two assists and combined for eight total shot attempts and nine ground balls.
- Hall aided Adelphi to their victory after scoring four of their 10 goals for four points along with a pair of ground balls. Braden Donnellan ended the game with a team-high five points coming from four assists and one score.
- Granara posted a career-high 14 saves and allowed 10 goals in the cage for the Hawks after playing the full 60 minutes.
- Despite the loss, Andrews and Granara were named to the NE10's All-Championship team for their performances throughout the playoffs.
- This marked the 18th meeting between these two programs in the all-time series as Adelphi remains undefeated against Saint Anselm.
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