FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 25, 2016
Le Moyne's NCAA Tournament Central Page
Syracuse, N.Y. - Senior Logan Thomas registered three points to lead the second-ranked and top-seeded Le Moyne back to the NCAA National Championship game as the Dolphins recorded an 8-4 victory over third-ranked and second-seeded Merrimack in the NCAA Semifinals on Saturday afternoon at Ted Grant Field.
The Dolphins, who won their program-record 19th game of the season, advance to their ninth NCAA title game in the last 13 years and will take on top-ranked Limestone on Sunday, May 29 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Dolphins are 4-4 in their previous eight title game appearances.
Le Moyne tallied the only two goals of the opening quarter. Graduate student midfielder Matt Taylor opened the game's scoring 2:35 into the contest by curling around the left side of the crease and tallying his 26th goal of the year. With just 5.1 seconds left in the quarter, Thomas recorded his first goal of the day after taking a pass from freshman midfielder Dan Entenmann.
Merrimack broke through five and one-half minutes into the second quarter as Seamus Ford recorded his 16th goal of the year off a pass from Trevor Gallagher.
The Dolphins responded with four straight goals to blow the game open. Only 59 seconds after Ford scored, senior midfielder Nick Kline finished off a feed from Thomas for his 14th goal of the campaign. Taylor gave the Dolphins a 4-1 lead with 8:24 left in the half after collecting a pass from senior attackman Mike Jenkins.
With the assist, Jenkins became the sixth Dolphin in the program's history to dish out 30 assists in a year. Following a save by redshirt senior goalkeeper Alex Krawec, senior defensive midfielder Kyle DeAngelis scored his second goal of the season in transition off a feed from Jenkins with 4:33 remaining.
The Dolphins took a 6-1 lead with 3:25 left as senior attackman Andrew Jackson netted his 19th goal of the year off a pass from freshman long-stick midfielder Zac Prattson, who scooped up a loose ball in the defensive end and cleared the ball before recording his first career point.
Max Allen got the Warriors within 6-2 with 45 seconds left off a pass from Andrew Walsh, but the Dolphins closed out the scoring in the half with just one second left as Entenmann scored from the right alley after taking a pass from Kline.
Following eight and one-half minutes of scoreless action to start the third quarter, Thomas gave the Dolphins their largest lead of the game by finding the back of the net for the 45th time this year from in front of the goal off a move from the right side.
The goal gave Thomas 45 goals and 61 points on the season, which rank fifth and 11th, respectively, in a single-season in the program's history.
Allen trimmed Merrimack's deficit back to five with his 49th goal of the year with 32 seconds left in the third quarter.
Merrimack tallied the only goal of the fourth quarter to deliver the final score. Following a Le Moyne turnover, Joey Diaco scored in transition with 13:01 remaining in the game.
Krawec finished the game with 13 saves, including four in each of the third and fourth quarters, to register his program-record 19th victory of the season between the pipes. With his 13 saves, Krawec now has 182 on the season, the eighth-most in the program's history and the second-most over the last 20 seasons behind last year's 215.
Sam Ventresca tallied seven saves in the loss for the Warriors.
Additiional reporting for this release provided by the Le Moyne athletics communications staff
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.
