NE Lax Blog

Chris Burdick Resigns as Providence Lacrosse Coach

Press Release — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:02:31 +0000

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – It was announced today that Chris Burdick has resigned as the men’s lacrosse coach at Providence College. Burdick coached the Friars for 14 seasons. A national search to find his successor will begin immediately.

“I want to thank Chris for all his efforts and wish him the best in his future endeavors,” Athletics Director Bob Driscoll said. “I believe our lacrosse program has a strong foundation and we are poised to move ahead into a new era in Friar lacrosse. We are about to begin construction on a new lacrosse stadium and a locker room facility. That combined with the fact that the BIG EAST is one of the premier conferences in the nation for lacrosse should make this a very appealing head coaching position.”

“It has been an honor to serve as the lacrosse coach at Providence College for the past 14 years under the leadership of Fr. Shanley and Bob Driscoll,” Burdick said. “I have tremendous belief in the players in the program and the players coming in. I believe the lacrosse program will be very strong for years to come.”

NEILA All-New England Team D1

Sibbs — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:43:28 +0000

NEILA All-New England Team D2

Sibbs — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:40:27 +0000

NEILA All-New England Team D3

Sibbs — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:37:01 +0000

Endicott Wins the ECAC New England D3 Tournament

Press Release — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:42:12 +0000

BEVERLY, Mass. – For the third time in program history, the Endicott men’s lacrosse team hoisted the ECAC DIII New England Championship as the top-ranked Gulls defeated #3 University of New England a 15-9 loss at Endicott Stadium. Endicott had previous won the tournament in back-to-back years in 2008 and 2009.

Junior faceoff man Sam Ozycz (Cheshire, Conn.) was awarded the Most Outstanding Player trophy for his efforts in leading the Gulls to an ECAC Championship win. After going 1-for-7 on faceoffs in the first half, Ozycz was 15-of-18 on the draw over the final two quarters with 12 groundballs to help the Endicott offense maintain possession. Leading just 4-2 after the first 30 minutes of play, the Gulls did just that behind Ozycz’s strong play as they exploded for nine goals in the third quarter to take a commanding 13-5 lead.

Ozycz also had his stick in two goals, scoring his sixth of the season following a faceoff win at 12:01 in the third and assisting on sophomore Nick Ranaccio’s (Acton, Mass.) first goal of the season with 38 seconds remaining in the same quarter.

Endicott senior midfielder Brendan Eppley (Darien, Conn.) capped off his career with a six-point game which included a career-high five assists to go along with his 23^rd goal of the season. Fellow seniors Jon Thanas (Cumberland, R.I.) and Connor Prescott (Norwalk, Conn.) were two of four Endicott players to net two goals in the game. Junior Peter Erickson (Yarmouth, Maine) and freshman Jeremy Morgan (Ridge, N.Y.) found the back of the net twice while both Thanas and Morgan also registered assists in the win.

The Nor’easters were led by senior midfielder Matt Anderson (St. Paul, Minn.) and sophomore standout Dan O’Gorman (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) who each tallied three points. Anderson netted a hat trick, all in the second half, while O’Gorman scored twice in a strong fourth quarter effort by UNE and assisted on a Nick Gross (Kennebunk, Maine) goal midway through the third.

Endicott played well defending UNE’s transition into offense by holding the Nor’easters to just to 20-of-35 successful clear attempts. Overall defensively, the Gulls were able to cause 12 UNE turnovers with defensemen Will Farfalla (Glen Rock, N.J.) and Breck Merritt (Weston, Mass.) lead the way with two caused turnovers each. UNE’s senior defender Nick Peter (Queenstown, Md.) led all players, however, with a game-high four caused turnovers with teammate Nick McMahon (Westfield, Mass.) chipping in with three.

With 24 penalties in the game, both teams were given their opportunity with the man-advantage and the Gulls did well with that in the second half by converting 5-of-7 opportunities into goals. UNE finished 1-for-9 on the man-advantage with their lone goal coming with 2:03 remaining in the game following a slashing penalty on Endicott.

Endicott started the game off on a three goal streak with tallies by Erickson, Morgan and sophomore attackman Doug Bergner (Fairfield, Conn.). The goals by Erickson and Morgan came early in the quarter at 13:41 and 12:36 before an 11 minute scoreless period until Bergner’s strike. UNE got on the board with 32 seconds left on the clock in the quarter as sophomore midfielder Mike Allan (Billerica, Mass.) scored his first of the season off an assist from Tyler Thomas (Mount Pleasant, N.Y.) to make it 3-1 Endicott.

Endicott and UNE exchanged goals in the second quarter as Prescott scored from Michael Armstrong (Winchester, Mass.) at 12:50 and Nor’easters attacker Dylan Thomas (Mount Pleasant, N.Y.) beat the goalie at 8:16 with an assist to Geoff Bruno (Durham, Conn.). At the half, the score was 4-2 in favor of the Gulls.

The Blue and Green outscored UNE 9-3 in the third quarter which included a five-goal run to start the period capped off by Harry Holden‘s (Duxbury, Mass.) 10^th goal of the season off a pass from Harrison Cotter (Lordship, Conn.). UNE would score three of the next four goals, two by Anderson, before the Gulls closed out the quarter with three straight goals. Freshman Jonathan Morgan‘s (Ridge, N.Y.) goal barely beat the clock as he scored with just 0.6 seconds left.

The Nor’easters battled in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Gulls 4-2 in the quarter, but it was not enough as Endicott held on for the 15-9 victory.

Between the pipes, Endicott junior Tom Burke (Sudbury, Mass.) earned the win after making 11 saves, including nine in the first half alone, to improve to 10-9 on the year. His counterpart, UNE junior Jay Letendre (Southington, Conn.) made 13 saves and snatched a team-high eight groundballs but dropped to 1-2.

The Gulls wrapped up their 2012 campaign with an 11-9 overall standing with a 5-2 regular season CCC record. UNE ends their memorable spring season 10-10 (3-4 CCC).

UMass Falls to Colgate in NCAA 1st Round Game

Press Release — Sun, 13 May 2012 13:57:50 +0000

AMHERST, Mass. - A four-goal fourth quarter gave No. 9 Colgate a 13-11 win over the sixth-seeded and No. 1 ranked UMass men’s lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon at Garber Field. The Minutemen led 10-9 after three quarters, but the Raiders finished the game scoring three unanswered taking their first lead of the game with 7:12 left before scoring again three minutes later to secure a spot in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Minutemen finish suffered their first loss of the season to end 2012 with a 15-1 record.

Art Kell led the Minutemen with three goals, while Colin Fleming had two goals and an assist. Conor Mooney, Steve D’Amario, Bobby Tyler and Will Manny each posted a goal and an assist each. Defensively, Greg Rushing had three caused turnovers and six groundballs, while Tom Celentani had two caused turnovers and four groundballs.Tim McCormack made 13 saves in goal.

Peter Baum, the nation’s leading scorer coming into the contest, Matt Baker, and Ryan Walsh each scored twice for Colgate (14-3). Baum and Walsh each added assists as well. Conor Murphy made his first career start in goal making a game-high 15 saves to earn his first career win.

UMass jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the game as Kell opened up the scoring just under four minutes into the contest. Fleming scored back-to-back goals as the Minutemen looked sharp in the first 10 minutes of play. Colgate’s Brendon McCann got the Raiders on the board with 2:49 left in the quarter as UMass to a 3-1 lead into the second.

Mooney put UMass back up by three just 43 seconds into the second, but seven seconds later, Chris Zielinski scored off the faceoff making the score 4-2.

The Minutemen stretched the lead to 7-2 thanks to three straight goals, but Colgate responded with a three goal run to close the second quarter with UMass leading 7-5 at halftime.

Out of the intermission, it looked as if the Minutemen had regained momentum scoring two straight on goals from D’Amario and Kell to go up 9-5 with 9:54 left in the third. Four straight Colgate goals punctuated by Baker’s second of the game with 37 seconds to go tied the game 9-9. Anthony Toresco popped the next faceoff towards goal, collected the groundball and then scored six seconds after Baker’s tally to give the lead back to UMass 10-9.

Patrick Campbell’s first goal of the season tied the game for the third time at the 10:25 mark of the fourth. Just under two minutes later, Anthony Biscardi netted his first goal of the game to put the Minutemen back on top 11-10.

Walsh tied the game again with 7:58 to go followed by Zielinski’s second of the game giving Colgate its first lead of the game, 12-11, with 7:12 left in regulation.

Murphy made three saves and the Raider defense block a pair of UMass shots and forced a pair of turnovers to hold the Minutemen at bay to seal the win. UMass had three possessions in the final three minutes of the quarter, but were unable to capitalize.

For the Raiders, they will move on to next face Duke in the NCAA Quarterfinals in Philadelphia next Sunday.

ECAC New England D3 Tourney Update

Sibbs — Sun, 13 May 2012 13:56:11 +0000

The ECAC New England D3 tournament will hold its championship game today at Endicott College. Here are the results that lead to today’s championship game.

The quarterfinals this past Wednesday, May 7 at Curry, saw Curry defeat Husson 13-8

The semifinals on Saturday, May 12 at Endicott saw semifinal matchups between TCCC rivals Endicott and Curry and TCCC member UNE played NAC member Castleton.

Endicott defeated Curry 12-10 to advance into the championship game, they will face UNE who defeated Castleton 15-11. The championship game will again feature TCCC members Endicott and UNE. The Gulls defeated the Nor’easters 15-6 during the regular season.

The ECAC New England Championship will be held today at 12pm at Endicott College.

UMass hosts Colgate in NCAA 1st Round

Press Release — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:06:10 +0000

AMHERST, Mass. - In a match-up that will feature a pair of the nation’s top attackmen, the sixth-seeded UMass men’s lacrosse team will host Colgate (13-3) on Saturday, May 12 at 2:30 PM at Garber Field. The game will be televised on ESPNU/ESPN3 and marks the 19th time in program history the Minutemen have made the NCAA Tournament. The winner will advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals to face the winner of Duke/Syracuse at PPL Park in Philadelphia.

The Minutemen return to the NCAA Tournament after a two-year hiatus. UMass was last in the Big Dance in 2009 which came on the heels of the Minutemen’s 2006 run to the NCAA Championship Game. Saturday will mark the seventh time in program history that UMass has hosted an NCAA Tournament game (4-2).

UMass enters the NCAA Tournament after posting a perfect 15-0 record through the regular-season and the CAA Championship. The 15-game win streak is tied for the 13th longest in NCAA history.

Saturday’s game will showcase a pair of the nation’s top attackmen in UMass’ Will Manny (75 points) and Colgate’s Peter Baum (93 points). The Raiders are ranked second nationally in scoring offense just under one goal per game ahead of third-ranked UMass. Defensively, UMass ranks second allowing an average of 6.69 goals per game, while Colgate ranks 29th at 9.67 goals per outing.

While the Raiders fell to Lehigh in the Patriot League Championship game, Colgate earned an at-large bid thanks in part to a win over No. 6/9 Maryland to close out the regular-season on Saturday.

Photo courtesy NE Lax Blog

D3 Tournament Update

Sibbs — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:14:29 +0000

Here in New England we have a good amount of teams that have qualified for the D3 NCAA mens lacrosse tournment. The 1st round action was held Wednesday and here are the results.

Springfield(Pilgrim League AQ) lost to Stevens Institute 13-12

Mt. Ida(GNAC AQ) got blown out by Bowdoin(At-Large) 16-5

New England College(NAC AQ) got blown out by RIT 18-4

Western New England(TCCC AQ) defeated Conn. College(At-Large) 6-5

Eastern Connecticut(Little East AQ) lost to Trinity(At-Large) 13-9

The 2nd round takes place this Saturday, here are the matchups for the local teams.

Bowdoin travels to play at Union

Western New England heads to RIT

Trinity plays at NESCAC rival Tufts

Stayed tuned for score updates over the weekend.

2012 D3 NCAA Tournament

Sibbs — Wed, 09 May 2012 00:51:35 +0000

Here in New England we have a good amount of teams that have qualified for the D3 NCAA mens lacrosse tournment. The 1st round action starts tomorrow. Here are the match ups for the local teams.

Springfield(Pilgrim League AQ) travels to Stevens Institute

Mt. Ida(GNAC AQ) travels to Bowdoin(At-Large)

New England College(NAC AQ) travels to RIT

Western New England(TCCC AQ) travels to Conn. College(At-Large)

Eastern Connecticut(Little East AQ) travels to Trinity(At-Large), the winner of this game faces Tufts on May 12th.

Stay tuned for score updates throughout the NCAA tournament.

Photo courtesy insidelacrosse.com