COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's lacrosse team jumped out to an early lead before its fourth-quarter comeback fell short in a 15-11 loss to No. 10 Pace University on Saturday during Senior Day at Duffy Field. The Northeast-10 Conference affair featured the Purple Knights, who received votes toward this week's United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) national poll while taking fourth in the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) poll, and Pace, which was ranked 10th nationally.
 
Saint Michael's honored graduate student Alex Chirgwin (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury) and seniors Michael Cammarata Jr. (North Andover, Mass./Saint John's Prep), Peter Canning (Plainville, Mass./Xaverian Brothers), Matt Costantino (North Andover, Mass./The Brooks School), Alex Daigneault (Colchester, Vt./Colchester), Rocky Grillone (Brockton, Mass./Cardinal Spellman), Josh Jenkins (Tyngsboro, Mass./Bishop Guertin), Dylan Morgan (Ashland, Mass./Ashland), Shane Olin (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima), Kevin Riggs (Plainville, Mass./King Philip Regional), Lochlan Sheridan (Marblehead, Mass./Marblehead), Robbie Sinibaldi (New Port Richey, Fla./J.W. Mitchell), Cam Steuer (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs) and Nathan Woods (Ottawa, Ontario/Kent School) during a postgame ceremony.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (6-4, 3-3 NE10), Pace (10-1, 6-1 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Chirgwin, 1 goal, 1 assist
• Grillone, 6 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Morgan, 1 goal, 2 ground balls
• Riggs, 1 goal
• Woods, 1 assist, 3 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Junior Sebastian Simonson (Spruce Grove, Alberta/Spruce Grove Composite), 5 goals, 2 assists, 2 ground balls
• Junior Cristian Reyes (Norwood, Mass./Xaverian Brothers), 1 goal, 1 assist
• Junior Zach Watson (Quispamsis, New Brunswick/Pomfret School), 1 goal
• First-year Taylor Wiercinski (Groton, Mass./Lawrence Academy), 1 goal
• Junior Cooper Wilson (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna), 1 assist, 17-for-28 faceoffs, 10 ground balls
• Junior Sean Regan (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland), 13 saves, 4 ground balls
• Sophomore Gavin Proutt (Baltimore, Md./Boys' Latin School of Maryland), 3 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Sean Murphy (Medway, Mass./Medway), 3 ground balls

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Ryan Kemp, 3 goals
• Senior Rafael Rodriguez Jr., 2 goals, 1 assist
• Sophomore Declan Landers, 2 goals, 1 assist
• First-year Preston Kral, 2 goals, 1 assist
• Sophomore Colin Reese, 2 goals
• Senior Maxwell Streety, 1 goal, 12-for-27 faceoffs, 8 ground balls
• Sophomore Jack Kern, 18 saves

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights put together their second strong showing against a nationally-ranked foe this week, having lost a 16-15 overtime decision to Bentley University on Tuesday.
• The Purple and Gold is tied for fourth in the NE10, which takes its top six into the postseason, with three games to play.
• Saint Michael's held a 51-39 lead in shots, as Pace yielded its most shots to an opponent since April 20, 2022, against regional power Saint Anselm College.
• Wilson surpassed his own school record with 99 ground balls this season after totaling 91 in 2023. His 239 career ground balls are only six shy of Justin Richmond's '21 program mark (245).
• Simonson increased his career point total to 132, passing Kevin Duffy '03 (131) to take over 10th in program history. His 88 goals are also good for 10th, just ahead of Marty Vanzo '13 (86).
• Grillone's 22 caused turnovers this season match a career high and are tied for ninth in program history.
• Saint Michael's led for 6:41 during the contest against a Pace team that had trailed unranked foes for a grand total of 11:31 this season entering the day.

THE ACTION

• Simonson scored twice in 17 seconds to give Saint Michael's a 2-0 lead by 13:59 of the opening quarter.
• Rodriguez (13:05) and Landers (12:19) countered back-to-back to tie the game, but Simonson completed his hat trick at 10:53 to make it 3-2.
• Rodriguez struck again 34 seconds after that, but Wilson won the ensuing draw and dished to Wiercinski for a go-ahead goal at 10:11.
• After Kemp (6:01) and Landers (5:01) scored one minute apart to put Pace in front, Chirgwin found the equalizer at 1:12, capping a frenetic opening quarter that saw each team score five times.
• Kemp scored twice in 41 seconds to spark a 6-0 run that bridged halftime, and the run grew to 10-2 late in the third quarter. Watson and Riggs scored the Saint Michael's goals.
• Down 15-7 heading into the final frame, the Purple Knights held Pace to its first scoreless regulation period in five games while utilizing an 18-3 lead in shots and Wilson's 4-of-5 showing at the X. Simonson scored twice, dished to Reyes for goal, and Morgan also scored, with all four goals coming in a 5:42 window mid-period, but the hosts put only one more shot on net in the final 4:25 of play.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Wednesday at No. 8 Saint Anselm, 4 p.m.
• The Hawks' national ranking is according to the USILA.