PORTLAND, ME – Fourth-seeded Saint Joseph's (10-7, 4-3 GNAC) defeated #5 Becker College (7-11, 3-4 GNAC), 10-9, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse quarterfinal contest at Deering Memorial Stadium on Tuesday evening. The conference tournament victory is the first-ever for the fourth-year program.

The Monks held a 6-4 lead mid-way through the third quarter but the Hawks netted four unanswered goals over a seven-minute span to take an 8-6 lead with 13:54 remaining. The evenly-matched squads swapped tallies in a matter of a minute to make it a 9-7 game with 10:38 on the clock and St. Joe's scored three straight goals over three minutes with Zachary Chaisson '14 (Concord, NH) netting the eventual winner with 7:00 left in the game.

SJC netminder Christopher Driscoll '13 (Saco, ME) made 13 stops in the cage and preserved the victory by denying a trio of Becker scoring chances in the final minute of play.

A pair of first-year players, Chaisson and Jake Ricciardi (Sharon, MA), led the SJC offensive charge with four goals apiece. Spencer Hunt '13 (Jeffersonville, VT) added three assists, Jonathan Horgan '12 (Hingham, MA) chipped in with a goal and two helpers, and Paul Dolewa '12 (Saco, ME) netted a goal and an assist in the Monks' first conference tourney triumph.

Elliot LaMarre '11 (Raymond, ME) corralled seven ground balls and Albert Comins '13 (Newbury, MA) tallied a game-high five caused turnovers for Saint Joseph's.

David Deschenes '14 (Gales Ferry, CT) paced the Becker offensive front with four goals and an assist and Jeff Petersen '13 (Syracuse, NY) contributed three scores for the visitors. John Malcolm '11 (Townsend, MA) tallied a goal and an assist and Shane Balestacci '14 (Pawtucket, CT) added a marker in a losing effort.

Hawks keeper Michael Munoz '14 (Avon, CT) made nine saves and James Ahern '11 (Plymouth, MA) scooped up a game-high eight ground balls on the night. Miles Rutkowski '14 (Swampscott, MA) added four caused turnovers for Becker.

The game was evenly matched statistically as well, as both clubs recorded 42 shots and eight face-off wins on the Deering turf. The Monks held a slight 38-34 edge in ground balls in the victory.

With the win, Saint Joseph's advances to the semifinal round where the Royal Blue will face #1 Mount Ida College at 4:00 PM in Newton, Mass. on Thursday. The loss signals the end of the 2011 campaign for the Becker College Hawks.