FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NO. 1 Lasell 18, NO. 8 Albertus Magnus 4
NEWTON, Mass. – Lasell College used a solid team effort, including goals from 11 different players, Saturday afternoon as the top-seeded Lasers knocked eighth-seeded Albertus Magnus College from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse tournament with an 18-4 quarterfinal victory at Grellier Field.
The Lasers extended their program record to 14 wins in a row, improving to 15-1 overall. Albertus winds up its season with a 2-12 record. Lasell will be home again on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. semifinal game at Grellier Field against fourth-seeded Rivier University, which defeated fifth-seeded Anna Maria College on Saturday, 15-5.
The Lasell defense kept its opponent to single digits for the 15th straight game. The Lasers rank fourth among 239 teams in the NCAA Division III in scoring defense, allowing 6.33 goals per game.
Senior Ryan Madden (Hingham, Mass.) led the scoring parade for Lasell with three goals and two assists, while freshman James Anderson (Medway, Mass.) tallied three goals and one assist. Senior Liam Gillis (Reading, Mass.) and sophomores Colby Buccheri (Rowley, Mass.) and Josif Giogas (Burlington, Mass.) scored twice each, and senior Mike Susi(Gorham, Maine) and freshman Bash Cunningham (Norwalk, Conn.) chipped in with three assist apiece.
The Lasers scored four goals in four minutes in the first quarter and led 5-1 after one frame. After the teams traded goals early in the second quarter, Lasell rattled off six consecutive goals in the last seven minutes of the half, starting with a man-up goal by senior defender David Sheehan (Tewksbury, Mass.) and two in a row by Anderson, to push the margin to 12-2 at halftime. Lasell outscored the visitors 4-1 in the third quarter and cruised to the win in the fourth.
Sophomore Mykel Stinson (Bridgeport, Conn.) led the Falcons with two goals.
Lasell won 18 of 25 face-offs, with junior Ben Werner (Boxford, Mass.) winning 9-of-10 and freshman Steven Phelps (Stamford, Conn.) winning 9-of-15.
The home team dominated in shots to the tune of a 58-17 advantage. Senior John Brunetti (West Haven, Conn.) made 15 saves for Albertus, and Lasell's three netminders, freshman Alex Beauchemin (Westfield, Mass.), junior Ryan Janovic (East Lyme, Conn.) and sophomore Mike Davison (Burlington, Mass.) combined for just four saves in the Laser goal.
Courtesy of Lasell Athletics Communications.
NO. 4 Rivier 15, NO. 5 Anna Maria 5
NASHUA, N.H. – The Rivier University Raiders earned a convincing win today against the AMCats of Anna Maria College at Raider Field. This win keeps the dream alive for the Raiders as they will advance to the GNAC Semifinals to face #1 Lasell College Lasers.
Right out of the gate, Rivier dictated play. Within the first four minutes of the game the Raiders fired off four warning shots. The first goal was notched at 11:17 by senior Rob Fullerton (Wilmington, Mass.) off an assist by his fellow upperclassmen Colby Larsen (Windham, N.H.)
About a minute later Anna Maria responded with an unassisted goal by Nick Massaro.
To no avail, sophomore Dylan McSparren (Warwick, R.I.)responded with a goal off a dish from senior Chris Pennie (Wilmington, Mass.). Larsen then responded with two additional goals in the next two minutes. Eric Guinasso add an unassisted goal then Larsen whipped another one in to close out the scoring for the first period. The first period ended 6-1 in favor of the home team.
While the first period was dominated by the home team the second period was a little different. The AMCats out shot the Raiders 12-8 and captialized on 1-3 extra-man opportunities. Nick Massaro struck again in a man up situation and Brandon Pavoni marked an unassisted goal narrowing the Raiders lead 6-3 by the end of the first half.
The battle raged on throughout the second half Colby Larsen dropping three more net piercing goals. The senior went on to lead the Raiders with six goals and two assists on the night.
Fullerton and McSparren netted three goals a piece. Sean Brady had an exceptionally unselfish night dishing off 4 assists.
Senior Goalkeeper Matt Cloutman made some incredible saves. From take shots off the chest to dropping into yoga-style half splits. The Peabody, Mass. native denied a total of 14 shots, demonstrating exactly why he is one of the top goalkeepers in the conference. He boasts a 60.1 saving percentage and has denied 178 shots to date.
This win lifts the Raiders to an impressive overall record of 12-4 and 6-3 within conference play. The loss ends the season for Anna Maria that tallied an overall record of 6-12 and 3-6 in league play.
Next up for the Raiders, the GNAC Semifinal show down against the Lasell College Lasers (15-1 overall, 8-0 GNAC) in Newton, Massachusetts. The two programs are slated to face off on Tuesday at 4PM on Grellier Field.
Courtesy of Rivier Athletics Communications.
NO. 6 Johnson & Wales 11, NO. 3 Saint Joseph's Maine 8
STANDISH, Maine – The sixth-seeded Johnson & Wales University men's lacrosse team began their quest for back-to-back conference championships with an 11-8 victory on the road over #3 Saint Joseph's of Maine on Saturday. The Wildcats' used a four-goal third quarter to help propel them to victory.
Records:
St. Joseph's Maine: 12-5, GNAC 6-2
Johnson & Wales: 5-13, GNAC 3-5
Statistical Leaders:
Brad Kretz (JWU): 3 goals
Matt Gelb (JWU): 4 assists
Erik Lindaas (JWU): 3 goals, 1 assist
After surrendering the opening goal of the contest two minutes in, sophomore Matt Gelb tallied two of his four helpers on the afternoon finding Tyler Drago and then Brad Kretz to push the Wildcats into their first lead of the day. The Monks tied it to close out the first stanza before the two teams matched tallies in the second quarter with the Wildcats Ben Farrell grabbing the equalizer to close out the half tied 5-5.
The third quarter proved to be the difference as senior Erik Lindaas grabbed his second and third goals of the day before Thomas Lyons and Brad Kretz closed out the 4-0 quarter for the Wildcats to push their lead to 9-5.
Lyons and Kretz grabbed the final two goals of the game for Johnson & Wales as they went on to finish off the Monks 11-8.
The Wildcats outshot the Monks, 36-30 while posting a 33-27 advantage in ground ball.
Bradley Morris picked up another playoff win in net for JWU thanks to eight saves.
JWU has now won their last four road GNAC playoff games.
Johnson & Wales will travel to #2 Norwich on Tuesday evening for a rematch of the 2018 GNAC Championship at 7pm.
Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications.
NO. 2 Norwich 19 , NO. 7 Emmanuel 7
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's lacrosse team did what they were expected to do on Saturday afternoon, dominating their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Quarterfinal matchup against Emmanuel College on their way to a 19-7 victory and an eighth straight trip to the conference semifinals.
Norwich will now advance to the GNAC Semifinals, where they'll square off with Johnson & Wales in a rematch of last year's championship game. JWU won the game and the conference title by a 9-5 score on Sabine Field last season. The start time has yet to be announced, look for more information on NorwichAthletics.com and the Norwich Cadets social media channels in the coming days.
Things looked like they might get out of hand quickly, as Norwich came right out and scored three goals in the first 2:02 of game time. The stalwart Saints of Emmanuel College would not be put down that easily, however, answering with a 3-0 run of their own to knot things up. Cody Moore (Canton, N.Y.) notched his first goal of the game to make it 4-3 Norwich at the first break.
The second and third quarter is where Norwich began to really distance themselves. They outscored Emmanuel 12-2 over the two quarters, effectively sealing the game up by the end of the third, and they'd cruise to the 19-7 victory.
After flirting with it all year, senior Joseph Santangelo (Fallston, Md.) put up his best performance of the year to break the single-game faceoff wins record. Santangelo went 27-29 in the circle, with one loss coming due to a false start faceoff violation and the other coming when the ball rolled out of bounds off the draw and was awarded to Emmanuel. He wasn't quite done with the record book, as his nine ground balls on the day gave him sole possession of the most ground balls in a single season, besting the old record of 99 with 104 so far this year. He's gone 68-78 in the last three games, a blistering 87.1% win rate.
Junior Jack Anzalone (Ridgewood, N.J.) put up a new career-high with six points via five goals and an assist. He's totaled 11 points in the last week with eight goals. Cody Moore was characteristically around the goal all afternoon, scoring four goals with an assist for good measure. His 13 man-up goals on the year, helped by one more today, ranks him second across all of NCAA DIII. Payden Masaracchia (Enola, Pa.) put up his own four goals with an assist performance, and Kevin Horchak (Mullica Hill, N.J.) had two goals and two assists. Christian Williams (Lagrangeville, N.Y.) had eight ground balls as part of the faceoff unit, and the Norwich defense individually caused ten of Emmanuel's 14 turnovers on the day. Nick Kandra (Crofton, Md.) made nine saves in goal to pick up the win and improve to 6-2 this year.
Courtesy of Norwich Athletics Communications.
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
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