Saint Michael's College

MANCHESTER, N.H. - The 19th-ranked Saint Michael's College men's lacrosse team downed No. 3 Saint Anselm College, 9-8, during its NCAA Championship debut on Sunday in Grappone Stadium, capturing a first-round contest over the 2024 and 2025 national semifinalist and Northeast 10 Conference counterpart.
 
The Purple Knights are seeded seventh in the eight-team North Region portion of the 18-school bracket, while the Hawks were second. Both teams' national rankings were according to this week's United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) poll.
 
Saint Michael's advances to face Molloy University, the third seed in the North and the nation's 11th-ranked outfit, on Wednesday in a national quarterfinal at 4 p.m. The Lions defeated sixth-seeded Assumption University, 15-12, in Sunday's first round.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (10-5), Saint Anselm (11-3)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Owen Balfour (Mashpee, Mass./Mashpee), 2 goals, 2 assists
• Senior Sean Murphy (Medway, Mass./Medway), 2 goals, 2 assists
• Sophomore Matt O'Donnell (Marshfield, Mass./Cardinal Spellman), 1 goal (1st career), 3 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Alex Moloney (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Farmingdale), 1 goal
• Sophomore Noah Veroneau (South Portland, Maine/Thornton Academy), 1 goal
• First-year Miles McGuire (Brighton, N.Y./Brighton), 1 goal
• First-year Braeden Murphy (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place), 1 goal
• Sophomore Nate Gulachenski (Southboro, Mass./Algonquin Regional), 15 saves
• Junior Taylor Wiercinski (Groton, Mass./Lawrence Academy), 5 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Senior Gavin Proutt (Baltimore, Md./Boys' Latin School of Maryland), 4 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Noah Poirier (Dalton, Mass./Wahconah Regional), 6 faceoff wins
• Sophomore Quin Hall (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth South), 3 caused turnovers
• Junior Travis Keel (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak), 2 caused turnovers

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Matt Lemay, 2 goals
• Sophomore Eddie O'Brien, 2 goals
• Senior Quinn Gannon, 13-for-19 faceoffs, 9 ground balls
• Junior Finn Granara, 10 saves in 58:28, loss

GAME FACTS

• Saint Michael's defeated a top-three team for the first time since downing No. 2 Adelphi University, 11-9, at home on April 13, 2013.
• The Purple Knights became the first NE10 program since the league added the sport in 1994 to claim its initial postseason road victory in the NCAA Championship.
• Saint Anselm also lost in an NE10 Championship semifinal and suffered consecutive home losses for the first time since April 2 and 9, 2016, having gone 54-12 at home since then, including 3-0 during NCAA Championship play.
• The Hawks held sizeable leads in shots (43-26), ground balls (42-23) and faceoff wins (14-6).
• Saint Michael's knocked off its third ranked foe of the season after also losing four times to nationally-ranked opponents by two goals or less. Among those setbacks was a 13-11 loss at the hands of then-No. 2 Saint Anselm in Grappone Stadium on April 1.
• The Purple and Gold reached double-digit wins for the fifth time, but for the first time since tying a school record with 11 in 2013.
• The Purple Knights improved to 3-2 in the all-time postseason series, as the teams met outside of Colchester for the first time.
• The contest pitted two of the NE10's league-record five NCAA Championship qualifiers, as all four North at-large berths were earned by NE10 programs.

THE ACTION

• The Purple Knights used their transition game to key the opening goal. Wiercinski caused a turnover in his team's defensive end before feeding O'Donnell, who scored unassisted at 11:48 of the initial frame, less than 15 seconds following the takeaway.
• The teams exchanged the next four goals, with Sean Murphy scoring (6:53) and dishing to Braeden Murphy (4:43), but Lemay's strike brought his team within 3-2 at 3:24.
• Veroneau bounced a shot past Granara with 40 seconds to go in the opening quarter, and McGuire tallied off of Balfour's feed at 9:26 of the second, extending the lead to 5-2.
• However, the Hawks were within a goal by halftime, as senior Charlie Dean (6:19) and junior Ryan Weller (4:21) struck 1:58 apart in the latter stages of the second stanza.
• Saint Michael's opened the third quarter with a 3-0 spurt, with Balfour assisting Moloney at 11:56, Sean Murphy striking at 5:31, and Balfour tallying from first-year Chris Davis' (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) feed with 4:43 left, pushing the lead to 8-4.
• Balfour's goal from Sean Murphy's helper still had the Purple Knights in control at 9-5 at 11:26 of the fourth quarter before the Hawks mounted a comeback.
• In a matter of 4:41, Saint Anselm turned a four-goal deficit into a 9-8 affair, with Lemay's marker at 1:40 bringing his team within a goal.
• Gannon won the ensuing faceoff before the hosts called a timeout, but a turnover immediately out of the timeout was controlled by the Purple Knights, who played keep away for the better part of the final 80 seconds. Sean Murphy held the final possession and tossed the ball in the air at the final horn.

NEXT GAME

• Wednesday at Molloy, 4 p.m. for NCAA Championship quarterfinal.