COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's lacrosse team gave 10th-ranked Pace University its closest contest of the year on Saturday before losing a 13-8 decision at Duffy Field during Northeast-10 Conference play. The Purple Knights were tied for fifth in this week's New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) poll, while the Setters stood 10th in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) national rankings.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (1-6, 0-2 NE10), Pace (5-0, 1-0 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Max Katavolos (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport), 3 goals
• Senior Kyle Hirshom (Walpole, Mass./Walpole), 3 assists, 3 ground balls
• Junior Alex Chirgwin (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury), 2 goals
• Sophomore Nathan Woods (Ottawa, Ontario/Kent School), 1 goal, 1 assist
• Sophomore Kevin Riggs (Plainville, Mass./King Philip Regional), 1 goal
• First-year Ethan Hughes (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull), 1 goal
• Senior Connor Brennan (Newington, Conn./Newington), 3 ground balls, 10-for-23 faceoffs
• Sophomore Spencer Scardino (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna), 16 saves, 6 ground balls
• Sophomore Rocky Grillone (Brockton, Mass./Cardinal Spellman), 3 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Michael Cammarata Jr. (North Andover, Mass./Saint John's Prep), 2 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Cam Steuer (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs), 2 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Junior Brian Sardella (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial), 2 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Maxwell Eliason (Salt Lake City, Utah/East), 2 caused turnovers
• First-year Thomas Frisoli (Nahant, Mass./Swampscott), 2 caused turnovers

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Junior Anthony Caputo, 3 goals, 2 assists
• Sophomore Rafael Rodriguez Jr., 3 goals, 2 assists
• Senior Tim Cairo, 3 goals, 1 assist, 4 ground balls
• Senior Louis Ragusa, 12 saves, 4 ground balls
• Graduate student Griffin Shiland, 7 ground balls, 3 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Maxwell Streety, 8 ground balls, 10-for-13 faceoffs

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights opposed a Pace squad that had yet to win by fewer than 11 goals this season, as the Setters lead NCAA Division II in scoring average (19.3) and scoring margin (+14.0) while taking second in scoring defense (5.3). Saint Michael's bested all three of those figures on Saturday.
• Brennan had his best faceoff day as a Purple Knight, going 10-for-23 after entering the contest 9-for-29 in his career during limited opportunities at the X.
• Pace netminder Ragusa entered the day second nationally in both goals-against average (4.80) and save percentage (.705) before posting game figures of 8.00 and .600, respectively.
• Both teams committed 23 turnovers while causing 13 apiece.

THE ACTION

• Rodriguez scored the opening goal at 10:50, but Katavolos countered off of Woods' assist at 6:29, as the teams exchanged each of the first eight markers.
• Cairo scored twice in a 1:38 span to give Pace a 6-4 lead by 9:10, but Katavolos scored at 5:06 before Chirgwin struck for the tying tally with 3:12 left, as junior Drew Collins (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) assisted.
• Senior Jake Veres found the net with 1:35 remaining, kicking off a 4-0 run that spanned the third period.
• Woods started the fourth by scoring at 11:19, but Caputo provided all of his team's offense during a game-ending 3-1 Pace run.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday at Assumption University, 3 p.m.
• The Greyhounds were tied with the Purple Knights for fifth in this week's NEILA poll.