PORTLAND, ME – Saint Joseph's College (6-7, 5-5 GNAC) outlasted Albertus Magnus College (3-10, 2-8 GNAC), 11-7, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse contest at Deering Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Junior Brandon Boutin (Hackettstown, N.J.) scored a game-high four goals in the victory.
With the result, Saint Joseph's clinched the #6 seed in the GNAC Tournament and will play at #3 Becker College in a quarterfinal matchup at 4:00 PM on Wednesday. Albertus Magnus, the #8 seed, plays at #1 Emmanuel College at 7:00 PM on Wednesday.
The Monks opened the scoring with goals from Colby Main (Jericho, Vt.) and Andrew Hamill (Wolfeboro, N.H.) in the first five minutes and held a 5-1 cushion 1:21 into the second quarter when Hamill netted his second marker of the afternoon.
The Falcons followed with a pair of quick scores from freshman Greg Buck (Berlin, Conn.), the latter cutting the SJC lead down to 5-3 with 12:10 left in the second stanza. The Monks countered with four unanswered tallies, including three from Boutin, over the final nine minutes leading up to halftime and held a 9-3 advantage heading into intermission.
Albertus Magnus tightened the collar by potting four straight goals over the following 20 minutes of play, as another Buck tally made it a two-goal (9-7) game with 11:11 remaining in the fourth quarter. The St. Joe's defense clamped down for the rest of the contest and the offense came through with two goals during the span, one from freshman Mark LaPierre (Rochester, N.H.) and the other from junior Andrew Sullivan (Rochester, N.H.), to account for the 11-7 final score.
For Saint Joseph's, senior Jake Ricciardi (Sharon, Mass.) scored twice with a pair of assists, Hamill potted a pair with a helper and Main tallied a goal and an assist with a pair of caused turnovers. Senior Dominic Cesarini (Bow, N.H.) contributed eight ground balls and five caused turnovers and junior Tom Crawford (Westbrook, Maine) added six caused turnovers in the triumph.
Buck paced Albertus Magnus with three goals and Mike Choiniere (Bethany, Conn.) added two goals and a pair of assists while Justin Bennet (Fairfield, Conn.) and Brennan Moore (Meriden, Conn.) chipped in with a goal and an assist apiece in a losing effort.
In goal, SJC junior Ethan Rettew (Ephrata, Pa.) recorded 11 saves while his counterpart, Albertus first-year Brandon Scicchitano (Norwalk, Conn.) posted seven stops on the afternoon.
Prior to the start of the contest Saint Joseph's held a brief ceremony to honor the program's four seniors: Ricciardi, Hamill, Cesarini and Ahmed Dorghoud (Alexandria, Va.). The Monks have posted a 31-35 (.470) overall record and a 21-14 (.600) mark versus GNAC opponents with this group – the fourth four-year graduating class in the team's young history – in the fold.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
