MANCHESTER, N.H. – The No. 2 seed Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team held on for a hard-fought 9-8 victory over No. 3 seed Seton Hill in the 2025 NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship Quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon. Freshman
Matt Lemay (Westminster, Mass.) scored a game-high three goals and sophomore goaltender
Finn Granara (Reading, Mass.) made 13 saves for the Hawks, who advance to the NCAA Semifinals for the second straight year after holding the nation's top scoring offense to its season-low in goals. Saint Anselm improved to 14-1 with the win, which is now the best single season record in program history.
UP NEXT:
- Saint Anselm moves on to the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship Semifinals, where they will face No. 1 seed Adelphi on Sunday, May 18th at 1:00 p.m. in Garden City, N.Y. It will be a rematch of this year's NE10 Championship Game and last year's NCAA Semifinals, which both ended in victories for the Panthers.
Score: No. 2 Saint Anselm 9, No. 3 Seton Hill 8
Records: No. 2 Saint Anselm (14-1), No. 3 Seton Hill (18-2)
Location: Manchester, N.H. (Grappone Stadium)
Date: Sunday, May 11, 2025
Attendance: 632
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- It was a defensive battle early on with neither side scoring in the opening five minutes of action. Granara made a pair of saves for Saint Anselm and Seton Hill goaltender Will Cody made three stops of his own to keep the game scoreless.
- The Griffins eventually broke through with 9:30 left in the first quarter. Wade Brunelle set up Michael Coleman for a shot and score from the left side to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.
- Saint Anselm had a hard time finding an answer offensively as Cody made four more saves to put his total at seven for the quarter, keeping Seton Hill in front.
- With under two minutes left in the first, the Hawks finally got on the board. Lemay spun past his defender and took a left-handed shot that ended up in top right corner, tying the score at 1-1.
- After getting the ball back off a turnover, Seton Hill got into its offense and beat the buzzer with the go-ahead goal. Carter Green took it behind the net and passed it up top to Kaden Granberg, who stepped into a shot and finished top shelf with 0.7 seconds on the clock, putting the Griffins ahead entering the second quarter.
- Saint Anselm responded right away, tying the score on the opening possession of the second period. With under five seconds left on the shot clock, freshman Eddie O'Brien (Franklin, Mass.) sent a desperation shot towards goal. The ball bounced into the stick of sophomore Mark Boyle (Reading, Mass.), who faked low and finished high to tie the score at 2-2.
- A few minutes later, Granara denied a close-range effort from Braedan Lockyer to keep the game tied. At the other end, the Hawks took their first lead of the afternoon after junior Maverick Lyon (Albany, Ore.) drove by his defender and found the back of the net with a backhanded attempt.
- Saint Anselm quickly made it three unanswered goals with Lyon picking up his second tally of the quarter with 7:23 remaining. After a save by Cody, Seton Hill failed to clear as Lyon intercepted a pass right in front of the goal. With Cody a few steps out of the crease, Lyon threw it into an empty net to give the Hawks a 4-2 advantage.
- The Griffins started to get back into rhythm offensively, but they were still scoreless in the second quarter after Granberg and Riley Grudi each had a shot hit the post, while Lockyer rang one off the cross-bar.
- Seton Hill kept up their offensive pressure, resulting in Lockyer finding twine off a feed from Gavin Erickson to cut the deficit down to a goal. Just over a minute later, the Griffins tied it back up when Green fired one from up top and beat Granara low to the weak side.
- The Griffins had a chance to take the lead late in the half, but Granara turned aside a point blank rocket off the stick of Lockyer to keep it tied up at 4-4 at halftime.
- The Hawks began the second half on defense after a faceoff win by the Griffins, but freshman Johnny Lucas (Peabody, Mass.) caused a turnover for the home team. Saint Anselm capitalized at the other end as senior Colin Mulvey (Reading, Mass.) found some open space in the middle, caught a pass from senior Joe Lombardi (Holliston, Mass.), and scored with a bounce shot to put the Hawks ahead, 5-4.
- After causing another turnover by Seton Hill, Saint Anselm went down and doubled its lead with 9:33 left in the third quarter. Senior Will Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) collected a pass from freshman Ben Turpin (Groveland, Mass.) and beat Cody with a rip to the stick side, which made it 6-4.
- 32 seconds later, the Griffins answered right back as Green split the defense and finished with a high bouncer to trim the deficit back down to a goal.
- Seton Hill then forced Saint Anselm into a failed clear and a turnover, resulting in a turnaround shot and score by Grudi that tied the game for the fourth time. Both defenses locked it down for the last six minutes of the quarter as the score remained tied at 6-6 entering the fourth.
- Scoring twice inside the opening two minutes of the fourth quarter was Saint Anselm to jump in front, 8-6. Lemay scored back-to-back goals for the Hawks in identical fashion, sprinting from left to right and finishing underneath the cross-bar from way outside.
- With eight minutes left, Nate Herbster helped the Griffins make it a one-goal game once again as he saw some daylight, drove to the cage, and scored with a scoop shot. Mark Strunk won the ensuing faceoff and gave Seton Hill a chance to tie the score, but they had three consecutive shots miss the target.
- After a successful clear, the Hawks called a timeout to organize their offense. The Griffins nearly came up with a stop, but with three seconds left on the shot clock, Mulvey cut to the net and scored a quick-stick goal off a feed from junior Charlie Dean (North Andover, Mass.) as Saint Anselm extended the lead to 9-7.
- With under five minutes remaining, Seton Hill generated some quality scoring chances, but Granara made three clutch stops to keep Saint Anselm up by two goals with 1:06 to go.
- The Griffins had some life as they were awarded an extra-man opportunity after the Hawks had a player called for offside. The visitors wasted little time as Coleman set up Brunelle for the man-up score, setting up for a dramatic finish with the score at 9-8 and 54 seconds left.
- On the ensuing faceoff, junior Quinn Gannon (Scituate, Mass.) came away with possession for Saint Anselm, but Holden Charboneau forced a turnover to get Seton Hill the ball back. The Griffins raced it down the field and called timeout with less than 30 seconds to play.
- Seton Hill got off two shots with less than 10 seconds on the clock, but both went wide and Saint Anselm survived with the 9-8 victory to advance to the NCAA Semifinals for the second straight season.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Seton Hill held a narrow 45-40 edge in total shot attempts. Shots on goal were even at 21 apiece.
- Saint Anselm finished with a 12-9 advantage at the faceoff X. For the Hawks, Gannon went 12-20 (60.0%) on faceoffs against Mark Strunk, the NCAA Division II leader in faceoff winning percentage entering the contest.
- The Hawks also came away with a 34-31 edge in ground balls. Gannon scooped up a game-high nine ground balls, while Lucas picked up four to lead Saint Anselm.
- Turnovers were also fairly even with Seton Hill committing 16 and Saint Anselm committing 14.
- Defensively, the Hawks caused 12 of those turnovers, while the Griffins caused eight giveaways. Nine student-athletes caused at least one turnover for the Hawks.
- Seton Hill was nearly perfect on clear attempts, going 27-29 (93.1%). Saint Anselm went 22-26 (84.6%) on clears.
- There was only one penalty called in the contest, which was on the Hawks with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter. The Griffins scored 12 seconds into the only extra-man opportunity of the game.
- Lemay led Saint Anselm with a game-high three goals for his 14th straight multi-goal game and ninth hat trick of the season. He leads the team and is tied for third in the NE10 with 39 goals this year, while his 51 points also lead the team and are the seventh-most in the conference.
- Lyon and Mulvey both scored twice for the Hawks in the win. Mulvey now has 33 goals on the year, the second-most on the team, and has scored in each of his last 11 outings. Lyon now has 17 goals on the campaign, two away from matching his total from last year.
- Andrews and Boyle each scored once for the home team, while four players registered an assist.
- Green led Seton Hill with two goals and an assist for a team-best three points. Brunelle and Coleman each finished with a goal and an assist for the Griffins, while four others scored once.
- Granara made 13 saves and picked up his 13th win of the season between the pipes for the Hawks. He helped limit the highest-scoring offense in all of NCAA Division II to just eight goals, which matches its lowest total of the season. Granara now has 17 career goaltending victories, already the third-most in program history.
- Cody made 12 saves and allowed nine goals in the cage for the Griffins in the loss.
- This marked the second all-time meeting between these two programs. Saint Anselm improves to 2-0 overall against Seton Hill in the series that began in 2021, with both meetings having taken place in the NCAA postseason. It was the sixth-ever victory in the NCAA postseason for the Hawks.
- Saint Anselm has advanced to the NCAA Semifinals for the second straight year and the second time in program history. The Hawks are now 14-1 on the year and have secured the most wins in a single season in program history.
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