Le Moyne Falls to Top-Ranked Limestone in National Title Game

Le Moyne Falls to Top-Ranked Limestone in National Title Game
Posted: May 25, 2015

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 24, 2015

Highlights (Courtesy of the NCAA)

Philadelphia, Pa. – Championship Most Outstanding Player Mike Messenger recorded four of his five points in the fourth quarter to lead top-ranked Limestone College to its second consecutive NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse National Championship with a 9-6 come-from-behind victory over third-ranked Le Moyne College on Sunday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field.

Le Moyne, which made its eighth appearance in the National Championship game in the last 12 years, finishes the season with a record of 16-3.

The Class of 2015 finishes its career with a record of 64-9, two Northeast-10 Conference championships, one NCAA Championship and two National Championship game appearances. The 64 wins are tied for the most by a class in program history.

The Dolphins, who defeated the Saints, 11-10, in double overtime in the 2004 National Championship game, jumped out to a 3-0 lead over the opening six minutes of the game.

Graduate student midfielder Matt Taylor got the Dolphins on the scoreboard 2:18 into the contest with a bouncing shot from 12 yards out in the front of the net after taking a pass from the left side from senior midfielder Joe Corapi.

Senior attackman Kevin Kelly doubled Le Moyne's lead with 10:11 left in the opening quarter with a quick-stick shot from the right edge of the crease off a feed from the middle from junior attackman Mike Jenkins.

Kelly put the Dolphins in front 3-0 with 9:00 remaining in the quarter with a shot from the left side in an extra-man opportunity after collecting a pass from behind the net from sophomore attackman/midfielder Alex O'Brien.

Limestone, which has won 34 of its last 35 games since falling to the Dolphins, 12-8, on March 1, 2014 in North Bethesda, Maryland, responded with the final two goals of the quarter. Just after as a Le Moyne penalty was about to expire, Messenger got the Saints on the scoreboard from 12 yards out in the middle of the field with 4:28 left after taking a pass from Jordan Saunderson. Limestone cut its deficit to one with 2:11 left in the opening period as Ryan Maciejewski put a shot inside the left post from 12 yards out.

The Saints evened the score at three apiece with 6:49 left in the second quarter as Maciejewski scored from five yards in front of the net off a feed from the right side from Saunderson.

The teams traded goals in the third quarter. Sophomore midfielder Brian Rogers started the scoring in the quarter by finding the back of the net from the right side with 13:02 left. The goal snapped Le Moyne's scoreless drought of 25:58.

Limestone tied the score back up with 11:00 left as Ben Higgins scored unassisted into the right side of the net from the left edge of the crease.

Following a pair of kick saves by senior goalkeeper Alex Krawec, senior midfielder Alec Westerhoff scored from the right side with 8:52 left after clearing the ball. The Saints pulled even again with 4:36 to go in the quarter as Vinny Ricci scored from the front edge of the crease off a pass from Reid Reinholdt.

Le Moyne took the lead back with 1:56 left in the quarter as Taylor scored from five yards in front of the net after collecting the ball out of the air after it got knocked out of Rogers' stick.

Limestone scored the only four goals of the fourth quarter, including a pair in the opening 76 seconds, to win the game.

The Saints tied the score for the fourth time just eight seconds into the quarter as Messenger rifled a shot inside the left post from 10 yards out after Reinholdt picked up the ball at midfield on the faceoff. Messenger gave Limestone its first lead with an unassisted goal at the 13:44 mark.

Colton Watkinson gave the Saints an 8-6 lead with 10:16 remaining with a shot from the right side of the field into the left side of the netting after taking a pass from the middle from Messenger, who finished off the game's scoring with his 55t goal of the season with 2:49 remaining.

Krawec finished the game with 13 saves over 59:16 between the pipes. He posted between 11 and 14 saves over each of the final six games of the seasons. His 215 saves for the season are the fourth-most in the program's history and the most since Marco Antinarella had 230 in 1993. Patrick Sheridan made 11 saves to register his NCAA Division II record 20th victory of the season. He set the previous record of 19 last year, while Le Moyne's Jared Corcoran (2006) and Jeff White (2013) had the record of 18 before that.

Information for this release provided by the Athletics Communications staff at Le Moyne College.

ABOUT THE NORTHEAST-10
The Northeast-10 Conference is an association of 15 NCAA Division II colleges and universities located in New England and New York that is committed to supporting balanced academic and athletic opportunities for more than 6,500 student-athletes. 

Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE-10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the Northeast-10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.