Springfield, Mass. – May 4, 2023 – The Springfield College men's lacrosse team had its season come to a close on Thursday night in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Semifinals on Stagg Field as it was defeated by MIT, 14-8.

Springfield, seeded second in the tournament, fell to 6-10 with the loss, while the third-seeded Engineers avenged a regular-season loss to the Pride to move to 12-5 and advance to the conference championship game.

Connor Roberts (Somers, Conn.) had seven caused turnovers and five ground balls, while Gavin Carzello (Westfield, Mass.) added five caused turnovers and Dean Pesce (Monroe, N.Y.) racked up 16 saves in goal.  Mason Nocito (Mahopac, N.Y.) scored three third-quarter goals for the Pride, Riley Burgmyer (Somers, Conn.) added two goals and two assists to clear the 100 career-point milestone, and Kevin Tierney (Glastonbury, Conn.) added two goals and an assist.

MIT was paced by a dominant performance at the face-off "X" as Matthew Sardis went 23-for-25 with 19 ground balls.  Nick Stiles had two goals and two assists, and both Dylan Nelson and Zech Bleil each netted a hat trick.  In goal, Devin McCabe was credited with 14 saves to earn the victory.  For the game, MIT  held a 51-39 edge in shots, while Springfield only turned the ball over 12 times compared to 25 by the Engineers. 

Springfield opened up the scoring at the 12:01 mark of the opening quarter as Burgmyer curled around the cage and ripped a shot under the crossbar to give the hosts a 1-0 edge.  The Engineers responded with five unanswered goals in a 2:42 span, only to have Tierney and Burgmyer pump in unassisted markers just over a minute apart to make it a 5-3 contest with 3:55 on the clock.  MIT would close out the first-quarter scoring on Nelson's second of the game to earn a 6-3 cushion.

The scoring would slow down in the second quarter as neither team found the back of the cage until Nilsen got free from behind the cage at the 3:59 mark.  The goal would spark the visitor's offense as MIT would add three more goals in a timespan of 1:05 to extend its halftime lead to 10-3.

It was a spirited start to the third quarter for Springfield as Nocito strung together three-straight tallies in under three minutes, with the last coming at 11:28, to pull the Pride within 10-6.  It appeared as though Springfield would hold MIT off the scoreboard for the entire frame, but Bleil blistered in a shot from nearly 20 yards in the waning seconds to push the lead back to five.

MIT carried that momentum into the fourth, as Sardis won the opening draw and scored six seconds into the quarter to kicked a three-goal burst to begin the stanza as the lead ballooned to 14-6 wt the 9:44 mark.  The Pride would score the final two goals of the game, with Conor Tracy (Walpole, Mass.) stinging a behind-the-back shot of a feed from Burgmyer inside the final four minutes to conclude Springfield's season. 

For the latest on Springfield College Athletics, follow the Pride on social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Fans can also download the Springfield "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market