MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team earned one of the North Region's at-large berths into the NCAA Division II Championship and earned hosting duties for a First Round matchup against Saint Michael's College on Sunday, May 10 at 1 p.m. at Grappone Stadium, as announced during Sunday night's NCAA Selection Show.
Earning the No. 2 seed, Saint Anselm is making an appearance in the national tournament for the sixth consecutive year, and the second under the direction of head coach Drew Bourdeau '18. The Hawks will face the seventh-seeded Purple Knights in the second matchup of the season between the two squads. The two sides previously met on Wednesday, April 1, with the Hawks emerging with a 13-11 home victory in the battle for the Saint Stick.
Saint Anselm and Saint Michael's are two of five teams from the NE10 to qualify for the NCAA Championship, as Adelphi earned the automatic bid after securing the conference title, while Pace University and Assumption University also garnered at-large berths. For Saint Michael's and Assumption, this marks both program's first trips to the NCAA Championship.
The Hawks (11-2) and Purple Knights (9-5) have gone head-to-head 37 times dating back to their first meeting in 1994, with the Hawks coming away victorious in 10 of the last 11 games played between the two programs. On April 1 of this season, Saint Anselm earned a 13-11 win to improve to 8-0. Junior Mark Boyle and sophomore Ben Turpin each recorded four points with three goals and an assist to lead the Hawks to victory.
Saint Anselm has been ranked in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Division II Coaches Poll since the preseason, reaching No. 2 on March 23 (Week 7), marking the highest national ranking in program history. The Hawks are currently ranked third in the nation while Saint Michael's sits at No. 19.
The Hawks were well represented in the NE10 end-of-year awards, highlighted by senior faceoff specialist Quinn Gannon being named the Faceoff Specialist of the Year. Gannon is second in the nation in faceoff winning percentage (70.3%) and third in ground balls per game (9.92). Joining Gannon on the first team is sophomore attackman Matt Lemay, who has produced 31 goals and 21 assists for 52 points thus far. Sophomore attackman Ben Turpin is ranked fifth in the nation with 3.83 goals per game as he leads the Hawks' offense with 61 points coming off 46 goals. Senior defenseman Tyler Vigeant leads the Hawks with 16 caused turnovers to go along with 19 ground balls, followed by junior defender Jake Klepacki who has registered 12 caused turnovers and 25 ground balls. As a team, the Hawks rank fifth in the NCAA in clearing percentage (90.8%) and scoring defense (8.00).
Chris Davis of Saint Michael's earned NE10 Co-Rookie of the Year honors, with a team-leading 28 goals and 14 assists, has led the Purple Knights' offense in his first collegiate campaign. Defensively, junior Paul Mannke is 24th nationally with 2.1 caused turnovers per game. In goal, the tandem of senior Mike Nelson (5-0) and sophomore Nate Gulachenski (4-5) has helped guide Saint Michael's to its first NCAA postseason appearance.
Tickets for Sunday's game can be purchased at https://tickets.saintanselmhawks.com/. No cash is accepted on site. The game will be broadcast live on NCAA.com as well as NCAA Championships Pass app, accessible on Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV and Google TV devices.
The winner of Sunday's clash will move on to the NCAA Second Round on Wednesday, May 13.
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