By: Massachusetts Maritime Academy Athletics

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass -- For the first time in program history, the Buccaneer men's lacrosse team appeared in the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament after winning the LEC Championship over Western Connecticut on Saturday afternoon. The Bucs' first-round matchup was against the Husson University Eagles, the champions of the North Atlantic Conference (NAC). As a first-round host and fourth seed in their pot, the Buccaneers picked up a win over the Eagles 28-17.

The Basics

Final: Buccaneers 28, Eagles 17
Records: Maritime 16-2 | Husson 12-5

Between the Pipes

Maritime: Nicholas Hall (W, 14-1): 9 GA | 2 SV | 11 SOG | 30 Mins
                Jonathan Visser: 8 GA | 3 SV | 11 SOG | 30 Mins

Husson: Odin Burk (L, 11-5): 28 GA | 18 SV | 46 SOG | 60 Mins

Inside the Numbers

Maritime

• James Sullivan tied for the game-high in goals with eight. Daniel Kane, Cooper Barrett, and Ryan McDonough each scored three times. Quinn Mucha, Jayson Kelleher, and Joe Vricella scored twice, and Chilton Cabot, Mason McNulty, Cole Jenkins, Camden Stern, and Zach Gambill all scored once.
• Kane led all players with four assists in the win. Cabot added three helpers, and Sullivan had two. Andy Aguado-Scheyer, Kelleher, Stern, and McDonough each notched one assist.
• On the ground, Jenkins picked up a career-high 18 ground balls and won 31 of the 35 faceoffs he took. 
• Defensively, Seamus Buckley and Vricella led the Bucs with three caused turnovers.
• In total, Maritime picked up 71 ground balls, was successful on 18 of 24 clearances, won 42 of 49 faceoffs, and took 67 shots in the game.

Husson

• Kiernan Field tied for the game-high in goals with eight in the loss. Dominic Hollenkamp scored three times, and Owen Giorgio scored twice. Drew Clinch, Gabe Robinson, Drew Held all scored once, and one goal was charged as an own goal against Maritime.
• Giorgio had a team-high three assists in the game. Clinch, Robinson, and Taylor Schwalje all had one helper.
• Giorgio picked up a team-high nine ground balls in the game. 
• On the faceoff, Brad Stolt and Brian Peabody each won three faceoffs to lead the Eagles. 
• Defensively, Giorgio had a game-high five caused turnovers.
• In total, Husson picked up 31 ground balls, was successful on 21 of 30 clearances, won seven of 49 faceoffs, and took 30 shots in the game.

How It Happened

The Buccaneers scored the first four goals of the game in under five minutes in the first quarter. McDonough scored first, 34 seconds into the game, followed by goals from Kane, Sullivan, and Gambill. Clinch put the Eagles on the board at 9:09, and the Bucs led 4-1. Sullivan scored again at 7:41 to extend the lead back to four goals. Then, Husson scored back-to-back at 6:16 and at 5:51 on goals from Field and Giorgio to make the score 5-3 Bucs. A two-goal lead was too close for comfort for Maritime, and they went on to score three unanswered from Cabot, McDonough, and Mucha to run out to a five-goal, 8-3, advantage. Husson closed out the first with two goals in 70 seconds to bring the score to 8-5 at the end of the first.

Maritime opened the second quarter by answering the two goals by Husson at the end of the first with two goals from Sullivan. Husson went on to score three in a row, two from Field, one from Hollenkamp, to pull back within two goals, 10-8. Kane scored for the Bucs at 8:43 of the second, and the Bucs scored the next goal as well, but not for four minutes following the Kane goal. With just over four minutes to play in the half, Maritime led, 12-8. Husson scored one more time in the half on a goal from Held. The Bucs went on to score three more times with Sullivan, McDonough, and Kelleher extending the Maritime lead out to six goals, 15-9, heading to the halftime break. 

In the third, Vricella opened the scoring for the Bucs to run the score to 16-9. Husson scored two, one on an own goal charged to the Bucs, and another from Hollenkamp to pull back within five, 16-11. Sullivan, Barrett, and Vricella scored at 6:25, 6:07, and 5:09 to give the Bucs their biggest lead of the game, eight goals, 19-11. Field scored another at 4:31, which was followed by two Buccaneer goals from Barrett and McNulty to close out the quarter. The Bucs held a 21-12 lead heading to the fourth.

Husson made things interesting early in the fourth, getting three goals, two from Field, one from Hollenkamp, in the first three minutes to make the score 21-15. Maritime got goals from Barrett and Stern to open it back up to an eight-goal lead, 23-15. The Eagles sprinkled in a goal from Giorgio, but the Bucs went on to score four in a row shortly after, with Mucha, Kane, Jenkins, and Kelleher adding to the score sheet. Husson scored their final goal at 3:07 of the game. Sullivan finished off his eight-goal, 10-point performance with a goal at 2:18 to make the score 28-17, the eventual final.

What's Next

The Buccaneers are on to the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament and will take on host Babson College on Saturday in Wellesley, MA, at noon.