FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | TOURNEY BRACKET
No. 1 LASELL 16, No. 4 JWU 5
NEWTON, Mass. – Top-seeded Lasell University used a stifling defense and a pair of six-goal runs Wednesday afternoon to roll past fourth-seeded Johnson & Wales University, 16-5, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse tournament semifinal at rainy Grellier Field.
The victory puts the Lasers, 9-2 overall and winners of six in a row, in the GNAC championship game for the second straight time and the fourth time in the last five tournaments. Lasell will host the title game this Saturday, May 8, at 1 p.m. at Grellier Field against second-seeded Norwich University after the Cadets advanced past third-seeded Rivier University Wednesday evening, 14-6. Johnson & Wales completes its season at 7-3 overall.
The Laser defense limited the Wildcats to just one goal in a span of more than 41 minutes from late in the first quarter until less than seven minutes left in the four quarter, when Lasell had a 15-3 lead. Junior goalie Alex Beauchemin (Westfield, Mass.), who leads the GNAC in goals-against average and save percentage in conference play, turned in another outstanding performance with 16 saves on 21 shots. Beauchemin is the anchor to a defense that includes long-stick standouts in senior Ethan Bain (Southbury, Conn.), junior Tyler Rose (Springfield, Mass.), and sophomore Magnus Leonard (Marshfield, Mass.).
The balanced Lasell offense was led by seniors Colby Buccheri (Rowley, Mass.) and Andrew Fidalgo (Wilbraham, Mass.), who tallied three goals and three assists apiece, and graduate student Chase Kapuscienski (Grafton, Mass.), who also scored three goals. Juniors James Anderson (Medway, Mass.) and Max Litchfield (Barrington, N.H.) added two goals each.
Sophomore Andrew Vasile (Milford, Mass.) scored two goals to lead the Wildcats offense. Freshman Andrew Carroll (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) had a busy day, posting a team-high seven ground balls and three caused turnovers, and junior Alex Padula (Syracuse, N.Y.) picked up five ground balls and also caused three turnovers.
Lasell scored the first two goals of the game, but JWU stayed with the hosts for the first 12 minutes, trailing just 3-2 after a goal with three minutes to go in the first quarter. But the Lasers scored one more goal before the end of the quarter and outscored the Wildcats 5-0 in the second on goals by five different players to take a 9-2 lead at halftime. Kapuscienski notched a pair in the third frame as Lasell extended its margin to 11-3 after three quarters, and Anderson capped a four-goal Laser run to start the fourth quarter to put the game away.
The Lasers went 2-0 this spring against their championship game opponent, defeating Norwich twice (12-11 on April 10 and 15-5 on April 20). Lasell is seeking its second GNAC championship and first since 2017. Norwich upset Lasell in the most recent GNAC title game, 9-5, in 2019.
Courtesy of Lasell Athletics Communicatons.
No. 2 NORWICH 14, No. 3 RIVIER 6
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's lacrosse team outscored Rivier University, 9-1, in the second half to secure its spot in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference championship game this coming Saturday. The Cadets upended the Raiders in a sopping wet semifinal game 14-6.
The third-seeded Rivier (4-5, 3-4 GNAC) got on the scoreboard first thanks to a tally from freshman Connor Eck who took a feed from Michael Ference to give the visitors the early lead on a man-up situation.
Norwich (9-3, 5-2 GNAC) answered less than a minute later when senior Kevin Horchak (Mullica Hill, N.J.) ripped a laser of a shot into the top corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
The Raiders scored once again with the man advantage as freshman Alan Cozzolino made the hosts pay for their over-aggressiveness. Freshman Matty Babb scored another marker just 45 seconds later to extend the visitors' lead to 3-1. Freshman Coby Mercier picked up assists on both goals.
Facing a similar scenario of an early deficit as in the quarterfinal game, the Cadets responded in a familiar fashion. The hosts strung together three quick goals to take the momentum back. Three different Cadets found the back of the net to capture the home siders' first lead of the contest at 4-3 with just over a minute left in the opening frame.
The momentum swung back in favor of the Raiders moments later when Ference found Babb for a score with just three clicks left on the clock to tie the game at 4-4 after one.
Eck started the Raiders' offense in the second period tallying yet another man-up goal with an unassisted effort. However, Norwich would score its own man-up goal 36 seconds later when graduate Jack Anzalone (Ridgewood, N.J.) notched his 24th of the year knotting the game at 5-5 heading into the break.
The second half belonged to Norwich as the Cadets seemingly played better the harder and harder it rained. The hosts held Rivier to just one second-half goal while icing the game with eight-straight goals to clinch their return ticket back to the GNAC championship game.
Senior Nick Kandra (Crofton, Md.) picked up his 9th win of the season by making 13 saves. Freshman Sawyer Gagnon saved 18 shots on net in the loss.
Senior Payden Masaracchia (Enola, Pa.) paced the Cadet goal scorers with five goals while adding a pair of assists. Anzalone and senior Russell Gilligan (Fountain Hills, Ariz.) each netted a hat trick and an assist while junior Parker Campbell (Rockaway, N.J.) registered four assists. Freshman Thomas Muraski (Keller, Texas) continued his strong work at the face-off X winning 19-of-24 attempts while collecting a game-high 16 groundballs.
Eck and Babb each recorded a pair of goals for the Raiders with Mercier picking up a goal and two helpers.
The GNAC Championship will feature the top two seeded teams as top-seeded Lasell University will host Norwich this Saturday. It will be the third meeting between the two teams this season.
Courtesy of Norwich Athletics Communicatons.
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 22 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
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