INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The nationally ranked No. 4 Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team has been selected to the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship for the fifth straight season, announced on Sunday night during the NCAA Selection Show.
Saint Anselm (12-1) secured the No. 2 seed in the North Region with an at-large bid and will host No. 7 seed Bentley (8-6) in the NCAA First Round on Wednesday, May 7th at 4:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased
here. It is a rematch of Wednesday's Northeast-10 Conference (NE10) Semifinals, where
the Hawks defeated the Falcons in overtime. It is also a
rematch of last season's NCAA First Round, which was Saint Anselm's only other time hosting an NCAA Tournament game in program history. The Hawks defeated the Falcons in that one, 16-6.
The winner of Saint Anselm and Bentley will face the winner of No. 3 seed Seton Hill (17-1), who received an automatic bid for winning the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Championship, and No. 6 seed Wilmington (11-4) in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Sunday, May 11th at 1:00 p.m.
Adelphi (15-1) earned the No. 1 seed in the North Region with an automatic bid after
defeating Saint Anselm in Saturday's NE10 Championship. They will host No. 8 seed Georgian Court (12-6), who also received an automatic bid after winning the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Championship, in the opening round. The winner of that First Round matchup will take on the winner of No. 4 seed Pace (11-4) and No. 5 seed Molloy (15-4), who were automatic qualifiers as well after winning the East Coast Confernece (ECC) Championship.
This year, eight teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament in both the North Region and the South Region for a 16-team field, four more than the 12-team field of previous years. All First Round games will be played on Wednesday, May 7th at 4:00 p.m. and will be hosted by the higher seed.
The highest remaining seeds will host each round until the NCAA Division II National Championship, which will be held on Sunday, May 25th at Gillete Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Saint Anselm and Bentley will meet each other for the second time ever in the NCAA Tournament and the fourth time this season. The Hawks, who are coming off a Runner-Up result in the NE10 Championship, won all three games against the Falcons this spring.
The Hawks took down the Falcons twice in the regular season, 10-6 and 16-8, and also came away with a thrilling 10-9 overtime victory in last Wednesday's NE10 Semifinals. All-time, Saint Anselm is 16-20 in the series against Bentley that began in 1994. The Hawks have won their last five games against the Falcons.
Saint Anselm has a 12-1 record this season and was tied for No. 4 in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division II National Poll. The three other NE10 institutions that qualified for this year's NCAA Tournament were also ranked, with Adelphi at No. 4, Pace at No. 8, and Bentley at No. 14. Also from the North Region, Seton Hill was ranked No. 3 and Molloy at No. 15, while Wilmington received votes. Georgian Court was unranked.
On Saturday, Saint Anselm suffered its first loss of the season in the NE10 Championship to Adelphi. The Panthers took down the Hawks in overtime, 13-12, for their second straight NE10 postseason title. Adelphi is also the defending NCAA Division II National Champions, having
defeated Saint Anselm in last year's NCAA Semifinals on the way to claiming the national title.
This season, the Hawks
placed 10 student-athletes on NE10 All-Conference teams and had two major award winners. First year head coach
Drew Bourdeau '18 won the NE10 Co-Coach of the Year, becoming the third coach in program history to win that award. Freshman
Matt Lemay (Westminster, Mass.) was named NE10 Co-Rookie of the Year, becoming the third student-athlete in program history to receive that honor.
Senior
Will Andrews (Cumberland, R.I.) and junior
Colby Goodchild (Reading, Mass.) were selected to the All-NE10 First Team. Lemay, juniors
Chris Claflin (Newton, Mass.) and
Quinn Gannon (Scituate, Mass.), and sophomore
Finn Granara (Reading, Mass.) were picked to the Second Team. Senior
Colin Mulvey (Reading, Mass.), sophomore
Mark Boyle (Reading, Mass.), and freshman
Johnny Lucas (Peabody, Mass.) were Third Team selections, while Lemay, Lucas, and freshman
Eddie O'Brien (Franklin, Mass.) also received All-Rookie Team plaudits.
Saint Anselm qualified for its first NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship in 2021 and have made it every year since.
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