WALTHAM, Mass. - The fifth-seeded Saint Michael's College men's lacrosse team lost to No. 4 Bentley University, 15-6, in a Northeast-10 Conference Championship first-round contest on Saturday evening. The Purple Knights received votes toward the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) national poll, while the Falcons were slotted 13th in this week's national rankings and advance to the semifinals.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (9-5), Bentley (9-4)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Cristian Reyes (Norwood, Mass./Xaverian Brothers), 2 goals, 1 assist
• Graduate student Alex Chirgwin (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury), 1 goal
• Senior Nathan Woods (Ottawa, Ontario/Kent School), 1 goal, 4 ground balls
• Junior Ethan Hughes (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull), 1 goal
• Junior Sebastian Simonson (Spruce Grove, Alberta/Spruce Grove Composite), 1 goal
• Senior Rocky Grillone (Brockton, Mass./Cardinal Spellman), 1 assist, 3 caused turnovers
• Junior Cooper Wilson (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna), 12-for-24 faceoffs, 9 ground balls
• Junior Sean Regan (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland), 16 saves, 3 saves

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Junior Will Adams, 3 goals, 1 assist
• Graduate student Jayce Lambert, 3 goals
• Junior David Gagnon, 3 goals
• Senior Conor Segreti, 2 goals, 1 assist
• Senior Cam Bartolomeo, 12-for-24 faceoffs, 8 ground balls
• Sophomore Kyle Piersiak, 5 ground balls, 3 caused turnovers
• Junior Jackson Tinsley, 12 saves

GAME FACTS

• Saint Michael's won nine games for the eighth time, finishing two short of a program record for victories, while qualifying for its first NE10 Championship since 2013; every NE10 squad competed in the 2021 tournament.
• The Purple Knights lost for only the second time in seven true road games.
• Regan's 16 saves were the most by a Purple Knight netminder in the postseason since Jeff Hannon '08 made 17 stops on May 4, 2007, at Le Moyne College.
• Simonson's 59 points this season were good for fifth in program history, and he tied for sixth in goals (37) with the most since Pete Donnally '13 had 43 in 2012.
• Grillone finished his career with 76 caused turnovers, just two shy of Will Moriarty's '20 program mark (78), thanks to posting 29 this year, good for fifth in school annals.
• Wilson set program records this spring for season ground balls (131) and faceoff wins (193) in addition to career ground balls (271). His 56.6% success rate on draws this year was the program's best since Chris Casserly '14 won 57.1% of his faceoffs in 2012.
• The teams tied for fourth in the final NE10 standings, but Bentley earned the tiebreaker by virtue of a 16-15 overtime win in Colchester on April 9.
• Bentley now holds a 3-1 postseason series lead, with each meeting the No. 4/No. 5 match-up.

THE ACTION

• Adam scored twice as Bentley led 4-0 3:19 into the contest.
• Hughes got the Purple Knights on the board at 5:50 of the opening quarter, but Gagnon countered 2:16 later, and the Falcons were up 6-1 after one.
• Reyes (14:18) and Woods (12:42) wrapped goals around an Adams strike to bring the visitors within 7-3 early in the second period.
• Bentley countered with five of the next six goals, with Lambert scoring twice.
• Simonson converted Reyes' pass at 6:08 of the third before Chirgwin scored from senior Dylan Morgan's (Ashland, Mass./Ashland) helper at 12:45 of the fourth to make it 12-6.
• The hosts potted the final three goals, with two off the stick of Gagnon.