GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team saw its season come to an end with a 13-11 loss to reigning champion Adelphi in the NCAA Semifinals. The Panthers used a six-goal run to open the second half, building a lead they would not relinquish en route to their second consecutive NCAA championship appearance. The Hawks finished the season with a 14-2 record, highlighted by a perfect 8-0 mark in Northeast-10 play to capture the regular season conference title.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Panthers struck quickly, scoring just ninety seconds into the game as a pass from Noah Gibson crossed the goal face and found Michael Durnin, who buried it top corner for the opening goal.

• Junior Maverick Lyon (Albany, Ore.) answered at the 11:00 mark, working from behind the net before spinning back and firing a dart into the top corner.

• Adelphi had two shots hit the crossbar before a cross-checking penalty gave them their first man-up opportunity of the game. Saint Anselm managed to force a turnover, and capitalized shortly after as senior Will Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) took a feed from freshman Matt Lemay (Westminster, Mass.) and ripped a shot into the back of the net, giving the Hawks their first lead.

• Another penalty gave Adelphi a second man-up opportunity, but once again, Saint Anselm's defense held firm and forced a turnover. It was one of nine combined turnovers in the final six minutes of the first quarter, which ended with the Hawks leading 2-1.

• Adelphi tied it early in the second when a pass from Kyle Lewis somehow found its way through traffic and into the net.

• Saint Anselm earned two man-up opportunities over the next few minutes, converting on the latter when a cross-field pass from junior Chris Claflin (Newton, Mass.) found Lemay for the man-up goal, making it 3-2.

• Lemay added another just over a minute later, taking a feed from freshman Ben Turpin (Groveland, Mass.) and bouncing a shot into the net.

• The Panthers continued to struggle on extra-man chances, hitting both the post and the crossbar on separate opportunities. Though not on a man-up, Braden Donnellan broke through with a bouncing shot at the eight-minute mark to cut the deficit to one.

• Six seconds later, Adelphi tied the game. Michael Hendrickson won the ensuing faceoff and took it all the way to goal, bouncing the ball into the bottom-right corner for a 4-4 tie.

• The scoring flurry continued at the six-minute mark as Kyle Lewis faked a pass to create space before ripping a shot to give Adelphi a 5-4 lead.

• The Hawks quickly responded. Freshman Eddie O'Brien (Franklin, Mass.) found sophomore Mark Boyle (Reading, Mass.) for the tying goal. Just a minute later, O'Brien took it himself, dodging a defender and firing a shot into the top-left corner to put Saint Anselm back on top, 6-5.

• Noah Gibson leveled the score with 2:55 remaining, collecting the ball in front of the net and faking high before finishing low.

• Andrews answered a minute later, dodging through three defenders to finish low and restore the lead. It extended to two with 44 seconds left when senior Colin Mulvey (Reading, Mass.) bullied his way in front of the crease, wrapping around a defender for a big late goal.

• Adelphi struck back quickly off the next faceoff, with Vincent McDermott sneaking a shot in from a tough angle to make it 8-7 at halftime.

• The Panthers carried that momentum into the second half, tying the game three minutes in when Donnellan found an unmarked Gibson for the finish.

• The go-ahead goal came at the 10-minute mark. Lewis delivered a pass to Ryan Bauco, who slipped by a defender and shoveled a shot into the top of the net for a 9-8 lead.

• Both offenses stalled for the next eight minutes, with Dylan Renner and sophomore Finn Granara (Reading, Mass.) trading saves at two points over the next few minutes.

• The scoring drought ended with under two minutes to go in the third when a delay of game gave Adelphi another extra-man chance. This time they capitalized, as Gibson ripped a shot into the top corner off a Lewis feed to make it 10-8 heading into the fourth.

• Adelphi made it four unanswered goals early in the final frame. Donnellan found Durnin for a quick goal to make it 11-8. Durnin scored again three minutes later—this time with a blistering step-down shot off another Lewis assist to extend the lead to four.

• Durnin would score his third goal of the period minutes later, this time catching a fortunate deflection that rolled past the goalie to make it 13-8.

• Down five with six minutes to play, the Hawks rallied. Boyle hit Claflin with a perfect pass to cut it to 13-9 with five minutes remaining. Boyle scored himself with 3:25 left, sneaking a shot into the bottom corner to make it a three-goal game.

• The Hawks' press forced a turnover, and Lemay found Mulvey, who finished low again to cut the deficit to 13-11 with just over a minute to go.

• A late penalty gave Saint Anselm a man-up opportunity with thirty seconds left, but their lone shot was saved and corralled by Renner. The Panthers ran out the clock to secure a 13-11 win and punch their ticket to the NCAA Division II Championship game.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: 

• Adelphi held a 53-40 advantage in total shot attempts, including a 26-19 edge in shots on goal.

• Saint Anselm, however, dominated at the faceoff X, winning 18 of 29 draws. Junior Quinn Gannon (Scituate, Mass.) went 17-for-25 (68.0%) and collected a game-high 11 ground balls—his sixth double-digit performance of the season. The Hawks finished with a 33-27 edge in ground balls overall. Gannon ends the season 169-264 on faceoffs, for a percentage of .640.

• Adelphi won the turnover battle, committing just 13 turnovers compared to 24 by Saint Anselm. The Panthers caused 18 of those 24, led by Noah Gibson, who notched four caused turnovers. He was one of four Adelphi players to register multiple caused turnovers.

• On clear attempts, Adelphi held a slight edge, converting 15-of-17 (88.2%) while the Hawks went 13-of-17 (76.5%).

• Both teams finished 1-for-4 on extra-man opportunities in a game that featured nine combined penalties—five against Saint Anselm and four against Adelphi.

• Freshman Matt Lemay (Westminster, Mass.) led the Hawks with four points (two goals, two assists). He wraps up his breakout freshman campaign with 41 goals and 14 assists for 55 points—ranking third in the NE10 in goals and fifth in goals per game (2.56), while also placing seventh in total points and eighth in points per game (3.44).

• Sophomore Mark Boyle (Reading, Mass.) contributed two goals and an assist, finishing the season with 21 goals, 7 assists, and 28 points.

• Seniors Colin Mulvey (Reading, Mass.) and Will Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) each netted two goals. Mulvey finishes second on the team with 35 goals this season, with Andrews close behind at 24.

• Three players tallied one assist each, including junior Chris Claflin (Newton, Mass.), who raised his season total to 31 assists—fifth in the NE10 and fourth in assists per game (2.07).

• Michael Durnin led Adelphi with four goals, while Kyle Lewis led all players with five points (two goals, three assists). Noah Gibson added a hat trick and an assist. Four other Panthers scored once, including Braeden Donnellan, who added two assists in the victory.

• In net, sophomore Finn Granara (Reading, Mass.) made 13 saves—his fourth game this season with 13 or more stops. He concludes the season with a .543 save percentage, fourth-best in the NE10 among goalies with at least 10 appearances.

• Adelphi's Dylan Renner made eight saves, including a crucial stop in the closing seconds to seal the win.

• This marked the 22nd all-time meeting between the two programs. Adelphi now leads the series 21-1 since it began in 2008. With the 13-11 win, the Panthers took the season series 2-1 and punched their ticket to the NCAA Division II Championship for the second consecutive year. 

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