PAXTON, Mass. – Saint Joseph's College (5-12, 3-7 GNAC) defeated Anna Maria College (5-11, 3-7 GNAC), 11-7, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse action on Tuesday night.

PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS:

With the triumph, the Monks secure the #8 seed in the GNAC Tournament and will play at either Lasell University or Norwich University in a quarterfinal contest this weekend. The entire GNAC Tournament bracket will be announced later this week.

With the loss, the AMCATS' 2022 season comes to a close.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

St. Joe's trailed by a 3-2 score going into the second but opened the second stanza on a 4-1 run – which included a pair of goals from senior Nathan Varle (Saco, Maine) – en route to securing a 6-5 lead going into intermission.

Knowing their playoff hopes depended on the game's outcome, the Monks came out firing in the third period with three straight goals from Xavier Michaud (Wales, Maine), Max Lacy (Salisbury, N.H.) and Timothy Goodfellow (Wayland, Mass.) to claim a 9-5 lead and put the game out of reach.

TEAM STATS:

The AMCATS held the lead in shots (40-38), shots on goal (24-20), ground balls (53-47) and face-off wins (14-7) in a losing effort.

THE KEEPERS:

Saint Joseph's split time in the cage as junior starter Brannon Gilbert (Gray, Maine) made seven saves in the first half and freshman Ryan Boutiette (Burrillville, R.I.) posted 10 saves and allowed just two goals in the second stanza.

Anna Maria netminder Griffin Moore made nine saves for the hosts.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Goodfellow scored two goals with two assists while picking up seven ground balls
• Lacy tallied two goals, two assists and five ground balls
• Michaud posted two goals and two assists and Varle added a pair of markers
• First-year Calvin Heline (Amesbury, Mass.) scored two goals with a pair of ground balls
• Senior Wyatt LeBlanc (Arundel, Maine) added a goal and two assists
• Junior Eli Arsenault (Saco, Maine) dealt two assists and picked up a game-high 10 ground balls

LEADERS – ANNA MARIA:

• Tommy Girard scored three goals and Nicolas Pasqualini added a pair of scores
• Nathan Powers was 14-for-21 on face-off attempts and picked up nine ground balls

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

Saint Joseph's is 10-0 all-time versus Anna Maria College.

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