St. Lawrence will face Tufts on May 22 to fight for a trip to the final.
CANTON, N.Y. – The No. 11 Amherst College men's lacrosse team fell to No. 8 St. Lawrence University, 16-12 as the Saints secured the win with a second half comeback in Wednesday afternoon's NCAA Division III Championship Quarterfinal contest at North Country Field at Hall-Leet Stadium in Canton, N.Y.
FULL BRACKET: DIII Men's Lacrosse Championship
With the win, St. Lawrence (18-2) will take on No. 4 Tufts University (19-2) Sunday, May 22 at Bello Field in Medford, Mass. in an NCAA Semifinal showdown. Amherst concludes its stellar campaign, 14-5 overall.
Trailing 10-7 at the 9:53 mark of the third quarter, St. Lawrence outscored Amherst, 9-2 over the remaining 24:53 to seal the win.
FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS
-St. Lawrence struck quickly as Mackey Lynch found the back of the net just 14 seconds into the game. Alec Dietsch provided the helper on the strike. However, Amherst answered right back as Quinn Moroney '16 knotted the contest at 1-1 with a marker at the 13:56 mark.
-The Purple & White took the lead at the 9:28 mark when Dylan Park '16 scored a man-up goal to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
-With 5:15 remaining in the opening quarter, Conor Healey leveled the game at 2-2 when he scored for the Saints.
-Late in the first, Amherst took the lead with an extra-man opportunity as Chris Albanese '17 scored on a feed from Michael Litner '16 to give the Purple & White a 3-2 edge after 15 minutes of play.
-The second quarter saw the St. Lawrence tie the game at 3-3 when Healey fired in his second goal of the game at the 12:41 mark. Less than two minutes later, Amherst regained its one-goal advantage as Max Keeley '18 scored his third goal of the season to make it 4-3.
-Amherst increased its lead to 5-3 with another man-up goal as Charlie Gill '16 found Park who delivered his second of the game at the 9:59 mark. The Saints closed the gap back to one 1:12 later as Jeremy Vautour found the back of the net to set the score at 5-4.
-The Purple & White struck again at the 7:46 mark as Evan Wolf '19 capitalized on a dish from Moroney to make it 6-4.
-Jamie Kuppel then scored with an assist from Charlie Duprey on the man-advantage to pull St. Lawrence back to within one (6-5) with 4:51 to play in the first half. The Saints tied the game a minute later when Brett McCormack found the back as the sides battled to a 6-6 stalemate after 30 minutes of play.
-Amherst goalie Thomas Gilligan '16 was terrific in the half, posting seven saves, while his St. Lawrence counterpart Ryan Fisher made five first half stops.
SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS
-Albanese fired Amherst into the lead 50 seconds into the third quarter as he scored on a feed from Moroney to make it 7-6. Ian Kadish '18 then won the ensuing face off and ripped a shot into the back of the cage seven ticks later to make it 8-6.
-The Purple & White ballooned their advantage to 9-6 when Jack Norton '19 scored his first collegiate goal on the man advantage following an assist from Gill at the 13:17 mark.
-St. Lawrence pulled a goal back at the 11:37 mark when Vautour scored his second of the game, this one coming on the extra-man opportunity. Amherst responded just seven seconds later as Moroney scored on a feed off the face off from Kadish to make it 10-7 at the 11:30 mark.
-The Saints again clawed to within two (10-8) when Jon Fairbanks scored (assisted by Healey) with a man-up marker with 9:53 remaining in the third quarter. Just over three minutes later, Cam Mullins narrowed the St. Lawrence deficit to one as he struck nylon for the first time this season to make it 10-9 with 6:22 on the clock.
-Late in the third quarter, Austin Nadeau ripped a shot into the back of the cage (assisted by Vautour) which evened the game at 10-10 at the 1:02 mark, before Duprey scored on a pass from Healey with just four seconds left to give the Saints an 11-10 edge after 45 minutes.
-At the 12:49 mark of the fourth period, Wolf laced a shot into the net following a third assist from Moroney to tie the game at 11-11.
-Just 1:11 later, Nadeau put St. Lawrence back ahead, 12-11 with his second tally of the contest. Duprey then put the Saints ahead, 13-11 when he scored on a dish from Kuppel at the 8:07 mark, and Connor Brimley added a score with 6:37 to play in regulation to give St. Lawrence a 14-11 cushion.
-Jordan Dow added a goal at the 3:35 mark to extend the Saints' lead to 15-11 as Jamie DeNicola provided the helper on the play.
-Park pulled the Purple & White to within three (15-12) when he scored with 1:36 left to play in the game, but that's as close as they could get as Dow fired in his second of the game with 39 seconds remaining to seal the 16-12 victory for the Saints.
BY THE NUMBERS
-Gilligan suffered the loss for the Purple & White between the posts, making 15 stops in the process.
-Kadish led Amherst with six ground balls and was 16-for-31 in face offs, while Rob Butko '16 added five ground balls.
-Moroney finished with three assists in the game, and concludes his fantastic career with 267 helpers and 376 total points.
-Brian O'Malley '17 and Daniel Annino '16 forced three and two opponent turnovers respectively.
-Dietsch led all players with 12 ground balls and was 12-for-23 in face offs, while Healey added six ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers.
-Fisher made 13 saves to seal the win for St. Lawrence.
