COLCHESTER, Vt. - The eighth-seeded Saint Michael's College men's lacrosse team lost to No. 9 Assumption University, 10-7, on Wednesday during a Northeast-10 Conference Championship first-round game at Duffy Field. The Purple Knights, who were receiving votes toward this week's New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) poll, made their first postseason appearance since 2013.

Assumption, which was receiving votes toward this week's United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) national poll and sat fifth in the NEILA rankings, visit top-seeded Saint Anselm College on Saturday for a quarterfinal. The Hawks are also ranked ninth nationally.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (3-8), Assumption (2-6)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Sophomore Max Katavolos (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport), 6 goals (tied career high), 3 ground balls
• Sophomore Alex Chirgwin (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury), 1 goal, 1 assist
• First-year Dylan Morgan (Ashland, Mass./Ashland), 2 assists
• Senior Justin Richmond (New Market, Md./Linganore), 11-for-21 faceoffs, 5 ground balls
• Senior Dominic Joy (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough), 12 saves, 2 ground balls
• Senior Patrick Murphy (Northboro, Mass./Saint John's), 3 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Brian Sardella (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial), 3 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• First-year Michael Cammarata Jr. (North Andover, Mass./Saint John's Prep), 2 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Nicholas Shanley, 3 goals, 1 assist, 6 ground balls
• Sophomore Nolan Sheehan, 2 goals, 1 assist
• First-year Ryan Healey, 2 goals, 1 assist
• First-year Colin Malone, 20 saves in 58:48
• First-year Dylan Chapel, 10-for-21 faceoffs

GAME FACTS

• Saint Michael's received votes toward this week's New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) poll, while Assumption was ranked fifth. The Greyhounds also received seven votes toward the United State Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) national poll.
• The contest was the 10th straight for the Purple Knights against squads at least receiving regional votes. Saint Michael's twice took on nationally-ranked Saint Anselm in that time while also facing Assumption twice and Bentley University once, with both receiving votes toward the USILA national poll.
• The Purple Knights held advantages in shots (49-36), ground balls (31-29) and faceoff wins (11-10) while committing 14 turnovers to the Greyhounds' 15.
• Saint Michael's, which made its first postseason appearance since 2013, also the last time it hosted a playoff game, lost for only the second time in eight all-time postseason games on Duffy Field.
• Katavolos tied Greg Lazarus' '08 school record of six goals in a postseason contest, which Lazarus achieved against Pace University on May 1, 2007.
• Katavolos finished the season with nine man-up goals - in just 11 games - to tie Lazarus for third in program history, potting the most since Andrew Buccellato '12 posted 12 in 13 contests in 2010.
• Richmond capped a record-setting five-year career with school marks for faceoff wins (495) and ground balls (245). He notched 129 faceoff wins this year, second only to the 143 he totaled in 2019, and his 75 ground balls were good for fifth all-time; Richmond is the only Purple Knight with at least 75 ground balls in two different seasons. With 38 career caused turnovers, he came within two of the program's top 10.
• Joy ended his Saint Michael's career seventh in minutes (1,646:32), eighth in saves (353) and ninth in goals-against average (10.86).

THE ACTION

• Chirgwin converted Morgan's pass 2:57 into the game for the opening tally.
• Saint Michael's held Assumption off the board until the latter third of the first quarter, when Healey (5:06) and first-year Kurt Brinkhaus (4:07) tallied 59 seconds apart to kick off a 3-0 run. Healey scored again at 14:20 of the second quarter.
• Katavolos scored the first of his six straight Saint Michael's goals at 11:34, taking first-year Peter Canning's (Plainville, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) pass, but Sheehan tallied with 8:42 left to send the visitors into halftime up 4-2.
• The teams combined for three goals in a 1:24 stretch early in the third quarter, with Katavolos sandwiching goals around senior Adam Becker's strike.
• Shanley and Katavolos exchanged goals later in the stanza to keep the margin 6-5 in favor of Assumption, with first-year Robbie Sinibaldi (New Port Richey, Fla./J.W. Mitchell) lending an assist for his first college point at 5:09.
• Sheehan and Shanley scored to help Assumption begin pulling away. Katavolos cut the deficit to 8-6 at 11:01 of the fourth quarter, but Saint Michael's was held off the board again until he potted a man-up goal with 41 seconds left off of junior Kyle Hirshom's (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) helper. In the meantime, the Greyhounds used a key 4-1 run to extend a 6-5 lead into a 10-6 advantage.