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Saints men's lacrosse stumble in NCAA Tournament semifinal

Posted 5/23/16

The St. Lawrence University Men's Lacrosse team limited the Tufts University scoring runs in the first half but a run of seven out of eight goals from the end of the second quarter through the third …

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Saints men's lacrosse stumble in NCAA Tournament semifinal

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The St. Lawrence University Men's Lacrosse team limited the Tufts University scoring runs in the first half but a run of seven out of eight goals from the end of the second quarter through the third quarter for the Jumbos led to a 23-12 loss for the Saints ending a record breaking year in the semifinal game of the NCAA Division III Tournament Sunday afternoon on Bello Field in Medford, Massachusetts.

"I wouldn't say we were outworked today," said Head Coach Mike Mahoney. "I'm not taking anything away from the Tufts effort but I am proud of the way our guys played today and proud of the way they played all year."

The Jumbos scored early with a goal just 13 seconds into the game but Jeremy Vautour evened the score 16 seconds later for the Saints (18-3). The goal was the 60th of the season for Vautour breaking the school record for goals in a season.

Tufts scored the next three goals to take a 4-1 lead before Conor Healey came from behind the goal and scoring with a leaping shot to cut the lead to 4-2 with 1:10 left in the opening quarter.

The Jumbos scored with 34 seconds remaining but Healey scored again with just four seconds left in the quarter and the teams went into the second quarter with the Saints trailing 5-3.

Tufts extended the lead with another three-goal run to start the second quarter before Vautour added three more goals to his season total and bringing St. Lawrence back to within four at 10-6 with 1:24 left to play in the first half.

Another late goal by Tufts with just 34 seconds left before halftime sparked the 7-1 for Tufts as the Jumbos built a 17-7 advantage. Healey scored his third of the game in the middle of the Tufts run.

Vautour and Andrew Jarrett scored to stop the rally as the Saints scored twice in less than a minute.

Tufts responded with the final two goals of the third quarter and the first four of the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach at 23-9 with 4:12 left to play.

Jarrett, Charlie Duprey and Jamie DeNicola all scored for St. Lawrence to wrap up the scoring for the game.

Vautour finished with five goals and Healey had three goals and an assist. The Saints finished with more shots (47-38), a slight edge in shots on goal (30-29) and forced 28 Tufts turnovers to just 19 for the Saints. Steel White had five ground balls and Caleb Kane had four caused turnovers to lead the Saints.

"We had a good run in the (NCAA) Tournament with three good wins," said Mahoney. "Although today didn't go our way I think we will be able to look back at this season with a lot of pride as to what this team was able to accomplish."

Although the game was played in Massachusetts, nearly seven hours from the St. Lawrence campus, the crowd support was certainly there for the Saints.

"I don't know what the numbers were," said Mahoney. "But there was definitely as much red as blue there today and the support was there as it has been all season. I was amazed at the number of alumni and former players and families that came up to me before and after the game that offered congratulations on a great season.

The Saints finish with a school-record 18 wins in a season as well as a school-record 309 goals.