PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – For just the second time in program history, the Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team has been crowned the Regular Season Champion of the Northeast-10 Conference (NE10). Saint Anselm, ranked #3 nationally, went on the road and earned a 15-12 win against #8 Pace on Saturday to claim the program's first-ever outright regular season title. Senior
Will Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) scored a career-high four goals as the Hawks completed the regular season 11-0 overall and 8-0 in NE10 play.
UP NEXT:
- Saint Anselm has earned the #1 seed and an opening round bye in the upcoming NE10 Men's Lacrosse Championship. The Hawks are back in action on Wednesday, April 30th and will host the winner of #4 seed Assumption and #5 seed Bentley in the NE10 Semifinals at 7:00 p.m. from Grappone Stadium.
Score: #3 Saint Anselm 15, #8 Pace 12
Records: #3 Saint Anselm (11-0, 8-0 NE10), #8 Pace (10-3, 6-2 NE10)
Location: Pleasantville, N.Y. (Northwell Stadium)
Date: Saturday, April 19, 2025
Attendance: 250
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Saint Anselm's offense erupted for a huge first quarter, allowing them to jump out to an early 6-0 lead. Andrews scored two of his goals in the opening period, including the game's first score two minutes in.
- Senior Colin Mulvey (Reading, Mass.), juniors Quinn Gannon (Scituate, Mass.) and Maverick Lyon (Albany, Ore.), and sophomore Mark Boyle (Reading, Mass.) also scored for the Hawks in the first quarter. Gannon picked up his first goal of the season after winning a faceoff, racing down the field, and finishing on his own.
- Pace was able to get on the board with just 22 seconds left in the first quarter as Daniel Zabbia scored the first goal of the game for the home team.
- Both defenses started to figure things out early in the second quarter as the first eight minutes went by without any scoring. With under seven minutes remaining, the Setters ended that drought with a goal by Osei Adoma that made it 6-2.
- Less than two minutes after that, freshman Matt Lemay (Westminster, Mass.) answered for the Hawks with his first goal of the afternoon. 50 seconds later, freshman Ben Turpin (Groveland, Mass.) found the back of the net for the Hawks as they extended the lead back up to six.
- Colin Reese got one back for Pace, but Andrews responded on an extra-man opportunity to complete his hat trick. That gave Saint Anselm a comfortable 9-3 edge at halftime.
- Mulvey notched his second goal of the day just over a minute into the second half off a feed from Lemay as the Hawks made it 10-3.
- The two sides then started to trade goals as Declan Landers scored for the Setters. Lemay quickly canceled that out with his second goal for the Hawks that put them ahead, 11-4.
- Midway through the third quarter, Landers potted another for Pace. The two teams combined for just one shot on target the rest of the period as Saint Anselm maintained an 11-5 lead entering the final frame.
- 11 seconds into the fourth quarter, Dennis Hodge-Boccanfuso trimmed the deficit to five for the Setters with an unassisted goal after winning the faceoff.
- At the other end, the Hawks countered with two more goals, the fourth of the day by Andrews and the third of the day by Lemay, as they extended their lead to 13-6 with 11 minutes to go.
- Pace did not go away easily and they started to gain some momentum after that. The Setters scored four unanswered goals in less than three minutes courtesy of four different goalscorers in Landers, Joey Parisi, Jake Cenci, and Matt Baldino.
- Gannon gave Saint Anselm a much-needed possession on the ensuing faceoff. That resulted in a slashing penalty called on Pace, which gave the visitors a man-up chance. Mulvey helped the Hawks capitalize with the extra man, scoring his third goal of the game to increase his team's lead back up to four with 6:14 left.
- Junior goaltender Naish Kelly (North Hampton, N.H.) helped keep Saint Anselm's four-goal cushion intact with a pair of saves on Adoma and Landers. That allowed Lyon to score another insurance goal for the Hawks with 2:57 to go, putting the score at 15-10.
- Zabbia and Parisi each scored in the final two minutes for Pace, but they ran out of time to mount a comeback as Saint Anselm survived with a 15-12 win, completing their second-ever undefeated regular season in program history.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Pace held a 44-37 lead in total shots. Saint Anselm led in shots on goal, 25-22.
- The Setters controlled the center circle with a 16-13 edge (55.2%) at the faceoff X. Gannon went 12-24 (50.0%) on faceoffs to lead the Hawks.
- Ground balls were almost even with Pace maintaining a 29-27 advantage. Gannon scooped up a game-high eight ground balls for Saint Anselm.
- The Hawks committed 20 turnovers in the game compared to 16 committed by the Setters.
- Defensively, the Hawks defense caused six of those turnovers, while the Setters defense caused 15 giveaways.
- On clear attempts, Saint Anselm went 21-23 (91.3%) and Pace went 19-21 (90.5%).
- There were eight penalties called in the contest. Five were called on the Setters and three on the Hawks.
- Saint Anselm went 3-5 on extra-man opportunities. Pace was 1-3 during extra-man chances.
- Andrews set new career-highs with four goals and five points for Saint Anselm.
- Lemay and Mulvey both scored three goals and dished out one assist for four points.
- Lemay recorded his 10th straight multi-goal game and is currently leading the team with 28 goals (tied for ninth in the NE10) and 38 points this spring. Mulvey notched his fifth consecutive multi-goal game for the Hawks. His 24 goals on the year are the second-most on the squad.
- Four other student-athletes scored for Saint Anselm, including Lyon with two goals.
- Landers led Pace with three goals, while Parisi and Zabbia each scored twice for the Setters.
- Kelly made his first career start in the cage and stopped 10 shots in the win for the Hawks.
- Jack Kern started in goal for the Setters, made three saves, and allowed six goals in about 13 minutes of action in the loss. He was replaced by Jimmy Caputo, who played 46 minutes, made seven saves, and allowed nine goals.
- This marked the 31st all-time meeting between these two programs. Saint Anselm improves to 14-17 against Pace in the series that began in 1998. The Hawks have now won four straight games against the Setters.
- The Hawks claimed their second-ever NE10 Regular Season Championship in program history, and their first-ever outright title. They last won the conference's Regular Season Championship in 2021, when they started the season with a 12-0 record.
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