NEWTON, Mass. (4/19/14) – The Lasell College men's lacrosse team suffered their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference loss of the season on Saturday afternoon in their final game of the regular season, falling 8-7 to Emmanuel College. The loss drops Lasell to 10-5 overall and 9-1 in GNAC play as they clinched the second seed in the upcoming GNAC tournament. Emmanuel improved to 12-3 on the season and a perfect 10-0 in league games, the Saints will be the top seed in the GNAC playoffs which will start on Wednesday April 23rd.
Andrew Suh (Colchester, Conn.) scored a pair of goals and added an assist for Lasell and Joe Cunning (Newton, Mass.) netted a pair of goals as well. Edwin Sheehan (Wakefield, R.I.), Connor Johnson (Hampstead, N.H.) and Casey Sullivan (Waterford, Conn.) each chipped in a goal in the loss. David Walen (Longmeadow, Mass.) took the loss in the cage despite tying a career-high with 20 saves on the day.
Tony Cibelli (Westboro, Mass.) scored twice for Emmanuel while Ryan Sabuda (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Brian O'Regan (Milton, Mass.) each scored a goal and dished out a pair of assists. Austin Lauzier (Bedford, N.H.) stopped 14 shots to earn the win in goal for the Saints, who held a 49-33 edge in shots and a 28-21 advantage on shots on goal.
Kaile Maclean-Daley (Moretown, Vt.) opened the scoring early in the first period for Emmanuel, giving the Saints a 1-0 lead. Lasell responded with three straight, taking a 3-1 lead on goals by Edwin Sheehan, Connor Johnson and Joe Cunning. Ryan Sabuda and Chris Curtis (Ashland, Mass.) each found the back of the net for Emmanuel in the opening five minutes of play in the second quarter, tying the score at 3-3. Mike Dupont (Dover, N.H.) found Andrew Suh for a Lasell goal with five minutes left in the half to put Lasell back on top 4-3, but Justin Kelly equalized for Emmanuel, sending the game into halftime with the score knotted at 4-4.
After a scoreless first five minutes of the second half, Lasell took a 5-4 lead on an unassisted goal by Joe Cunning, then pushed their lead to 6-4 with just under six minutes remaining in the period on Suh's second goal of the game. Tony Cibelli pulled Emmanuel back within a goal with 1:28 left then Brian O'Regan tied the game at 6-6 just before the end of the third quarter. Donnie Litzelman(Exeter, N.H.) gave Emmanuel the lead just 40 seconds into the fourth period and Cibelli's second goal of the game gave Emmanuel an 8-6 lead with 8:25 left in the contest. Suh found Sullivan for a Lasers goal with 2:17 left in the contest, but Lasell was unable to convert on their final two shots, falling 8-7.
Emmanuel will play Wednesday April 23rd at 7:00 p.m. in the GNAC quarterfinals, while Lasell will host Rivier in the #2 vs. #7 matchup on Wednesday the 23rd at 3:30 p.m.