STANDISH, Maine - #5 Dean College (10-5, 5-5 GNAC) defeated #4 Saint Joseph's College (10-8, 8-2 GNAC), 15-9, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Lacrosse Tournament Quarterfinal at the SJC Athletics Complex on Friday evening.
PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS:
With the victory, Dean advances to the semifinal round of the conference tourney and will play the winner of the #8 Norwich / #1 Emmanuel quarterfinal on Tuesday.
For the Monks, the setback signals the end of the 2023 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
In the first quarter, the Bulldogs hit pay dirt twice while holding the Monks to their first scoreless frame since being held off the board in the second quarter of a setback at Colby College back on March 6th. Sophomore Owen Brine (Lebanon, N.H.) and junior Diego Alvarez-Segee (Saugus, Mass.) lifted the visitors to the 2-0 lead with strikes at the 10:42 and 3:40 marks, respectively.
Trailing 3-0 early in the second stanza, senior Max Lacy (Salisbury, N.H.) put the Monks on the board at the 11:36 mark and sophomore Will Levesque (Marlow, N.H.) scored his first of three goals on the evening two minutes later. The Bulldogs answered with Alvarez-Segee and Greg Centeio (Fairhaven, Mass.) goals and headed into intermission with a 5-2 advantage.
After two low-scoring periods, the third quarter proved to be a scoring onslaught as the GNAC foes combined to put 12 goals on the board. Facing an 8-2 deficit after Dean scored thrice in the first 2:16 of the third frame, the Monks mounted an incredible 7-1 run spanning seven minutes with a Matt Denman (Brentwood, N.H.) tally capping the burst and knotting the contest at 9-9 with 4:29 left in the penultimate period.
Unfortunately for the hosts, the Bulldogs' defense clamped down while their offense ratcheted back up, as the visitors scored six unanswered goals during the remainder of the third and entirety of the fourth quarter to claim the 15-9 tournament triumph.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's held the lead in shots (40-36) and caused turnovers (11-10) while Dean posted advantages in shots on goal (25-21), ground balls (37-27), and face-off wins (18-9) on the evening.
THE KEEPERS:
SJC senior Brannon Gilbert (Gray, Maine) made four saves in 35:28 between the pipes while sophomore Liam Greene (Mansfield, Mass.) turned away six shots in 24:32 of relief duty.
Dean senior James Rollins (Old Lyme, Conn.) recorded 12 saves in a winning effort.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Levesque paced the Monks with three goals and added an assist
- Lacy and sophomore Calvin Heline (Amesbury, Mass.) netted two goals apiece
- Freshman Tiger Hopkins (Leeds, Maine) contributed with a goal and an assist
- Denman added a goal and two ground balls
- Freshman Nick Wesley (Peabody, Mass.) chipped in with four ground balls and three caused turnovers while winning 8-of-18 face-off attempts
- Sophomore Anthony Samiotes (Hampstead, N.H.) broke the Monks' single-season caused turnovers record in the setback and finished the year with 44 CT's
- Senior Eli Arsenault (Saco, Maine) added four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers
LEADERS – DEAN COLLEGE:
- Alvarez-Segee enjoyed a banner contest with eight goals on 16 shots with five ground balls
- Junior Tyler Benedetto (Jupiter, Fla.) was 18-for-17 on face-off attempts with 15 ground balls and also scored a goal in the victory
- Brine scored two goals with an assist and Centeio added a goal and two assists
