ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team, ranked No. 3 in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Poll, picked up its second straight win over a ranked opponent with a 16-9 victory over No. 12 Molloy University on Saturday afternoon at the RVC Sports Complex.

Highlights

• Senior Chris Claflin (3-3-6) and sophomore teammates Matt Lemay (2-4-6) and Ben Turpin (4-2-6) led the team with six points apiece with Claflin and Turpin each adding two ground balls.
• Junior Mark Boyle and sophomore Eddie O'Brien added identical two goal-one assist stat lines.
• Junior Thomas Driscoll scored his first goal of the season.
• Sophomore Johnny Lucas and freshman Dylan Bankowski each netted their first collegiate goals and picked up two and three ground balls respectively.
• Senior Charlie Dean notched his first assist of the year.
• Sophomore Max Fowler tied a career-best four ground balls.
• Senior Quinn Gannon went 16-25 from the faceoff circle and tied a career-best with 13 ground balls secured while junior Evan Molloy went 2-4 from the faceoff X.
• Junior goaltender Finn Granara made nine saves on 18 shots and picked up a lone ground ball.
• The Hawks held a 52-35 advantage in shots and placed 37 shots on frame.
• Saint Anselm was a perfect 19-of-19 on clear attempts and held Molloy to 18-of-23 (78.2%).
• The Hawks held advantages in ground balls (41-25) and faceoffs won (18-11).
• The win marks the second straight win over Molloy as the Hawks improved to 5-6 in the all-time series. The victory also marked the first win against the Lions away from home (1-5).

How it Happened

The Hawks erupted for seven goals in the opening frame, beginning with an unassisted strike from O'Brien just 43 seconds into the contest. After Molloy briefly tied the game at 1-1, Saint Anselm rattled off six straight goals between the 9:41 and 3:04 marks of the first quarter. Lemay (2g), Turpin (2g), O'Brien (1g), and Boyle (1g) all scored during the 6:37 stretch as the Hawks built a commanding 7-2 lead by the end of the period.

Saint Anselm extended the advantage in the second quarter with goals from Bankowski, Boyle, and Driscoll to push the margin to 10-3 with 8:16 to play in the half. Molloy responded with two goals in the final 1:43 of the half to slice the deficit to 10-5 at the break.

The Lions continued their push in the third quarter, opening the frame with a man-up goal at 10:13 to make it 10-6. The Hawks answered 40 seconds later when Turpin scored at 9:33 to halt the momentum. Claflin and Lucas then scored 40 seconds apart late in the frame before Claflin struck again with five seconds remaining, as Saint Anselm closed the third by stretching the lead to 14-7.

The Lions struck twice in the fourth at 11:30 and 8:50 to cut the deficit to 14-9, but Saint Anselm sealed the win with late goals from Claflin and Turpin, both assisted by Lemay, to secure the 16-9 final.

Up Next
The Hawks (3-0) close out their road stretch on Wednesday, March 18 with a trip to Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., to face No. 13 Mercy University (4-1) in their final tune-up before Northeast 10 Conference play begins. Opening faceoff from Mercy Field is scheduled for 2 p.m.