Saint Michael's College

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. - The 19th-ranked Saint Michael's College men's lacrosse team saw its deepest postseason run come to an end on Wednesday in the NCAA Championship quarterfinals with a 12-7 loss to No. 11 Molloy University on John A. Darcy Field at the Rockville Centre Sports Complex.
 
As first-time qualifiers for the 18-school NCAA Championship, the Purple Knights were seeded seventh in the eight-team North Region bracket, knocking off second-seeded/third-ranked Saint Anselm College, 9-8, in the first round on Sunday. The Lions are the North's third seed. Both teams' national rankings were according to last week's United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) poll.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (10-6), Molloy (16-3)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Sean Murphy (Medway, Mass./Medway), 3 goals, 2 ground balls
• Sophomore Nate Gulachenski (Southboro, Mass./Algonquin Regional), 14 saves
• Junior Taylor Wiercinski (Groton, Mass./Lawrence Academy), 1 assist, 3 ground balls, 3 caused turnovers
• Sophomore Noah Poirier (Dalton, Mass./Wahconah Regional), 12-for-20 faceoffs, 4 ground balls
• First-year Zeke Peraza (Los Angeles, Calif./Saint Francis), 1 goal, 3 ground balls
• Senior Owen Balfour (Mashpee, Mass./Mashpee), 1 goal
• Sophomore Noah Veroneau (South Portland, Maine/Thornton Academy), 1 goal
• First-year Chris Davis (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park), 1 goal
• Junior Paul Mannke (Stoneham, Mass./Stoneham), 1 assist, 2 ground balls
• Junior Travis Keel (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak), 2 caused turnovers, 2 ground balls
• First-year Drew McCarthy (Franklin, Mass./Franklin), 2 caused turnovers

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Jake Taylor, 2 goals, 2 assists
• Senior Brian Green, 3 goals
• Redshirt senior Noah Hammon, 3 assists
• Senior John Basile, 15 saves
• Senior Brandon Pazienza, 9-for-19 faceoffs, 8 ground balls

GAME FACTS

• Saint Michael's finished one win short of a school record reached in 2012 and 2013.
• The Purple Knights lost to a Molloy team that has now won 19 of its last 20 at home.
• The Purple and Gold, which entered the day with the ninth-best scoring defense in NCAA Division II (8.47), had allowed as many as 12 goals only twice all season.
• All six of the Purple Knights' losses this season came at the hands of nationally-ranked foes.
• The teams met for the first time since 2022, as all eight contests between the squads have now been played in Rockville Centre.
• Poirier set a school record with 196 faceoff wins this season, eclipsing former teammate Cooper Wilson's '25 two-year-old mark (193), while his 62.4% success rate was the program's highest since Jeff Disa '02 in 2002 (69.6%). Poirier's 113 ground balls were second only to the 131 Wilson scooped in 2024.
• Senior Gavin Proutt (Baltimore, Md./Boys' Latin School of Maryland) finished tied for fifth in program history in career caused turnovers (62), matching Peter Hanson '12 (62) on Wednesday.
• Mannke's 30 caused turnovers this year put him fifth in school annals, and junior Travis Keel (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak) tied for eighth at 25.
• Gulachenski finished the season with an 8.79 goals-against average, good for 10th in program history.
• Murphy finished his career with 91 points, including 90 over 40 games in his final three seasons.
• As a team, the Purple Knights set school records this spring for ground balls (628), caused turnovers (195) and faceoff wins (216) while recording their highest faceoff winning percentage (59.5) since 2002.

THE ACTION

• Molloy scored the game's first four goals, with Green tallying twice by the time 10:29 remained in the opening quarter. First-year Jaden Simick (8:07) and Taylor (6:56) scored 1:11 apart to make it 4-0.
• Saint Michael's responded with a 3-1 spurt, beginning with Murphy (man-up) flipping a shot over his should at 3:50 while taking contact out front. Davis scored from Wiercinski's assist after a quick restart near midfield at 1:26, and Taylor's goal at 39 seconds was met by a Veroneau strike 45 seconds into the second quarter. That allowed the visitors to remain within 5-3.
• Four Lions scored in a 4-1 counter, with Murphy scoring the Purple Knights' lone goal in that time off of senior Stephen Deutsch's (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury) feed at 8:17 of the second frame. Green's man-down goal at 18 seconds was the first by either team in 7:59, and Molloy led 9-4 on sophomore Jack Dankenbrink's marker at 12:35 of the third quarter.
• The Purple Knights crept within four goals three times down the stretch, but the Lions answered on each occasion. Peraza's man-up goal at 8:55 of the fourth quarter thanks to first-year Braeden Murphy's (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) dish created an 11-7 margin, but Saint Michael's put only three shots on net from there - each stopped by Basile - while committing three turnovers.