Springfield, Mass. – May 2, 2024 – For the eighth time in conference history, the Springfield College men's lacrosse team will advance to the championship final as the second-seeded Pride topped third-seeded MIT, 18-14, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) semifinal round this evening on Stagg Field.

Springfield, which earned a spot in its eighth NEWMAC title game in nine seasons, improved to 7-9, while MIT sees its season end at 6-10. The Pride will take on No. 10 nationally-ranked and top-seeded Babson College on Saturday, May 4 at 5:00 pm on MacDowell Field looking to hoist the NEWMAC trophy for the seventh time.

Saturday's championship meeting with the Beavers will be the first title game matchup since 2016. Springfield and Babson met in the 2014, 2015 and 2016 NEWMAC championship games and the Pride won all three decisions.

Tonight, Springfield's offense was powered by four goals from both Brady Soldo (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Kevin Tierney (Glastonbury, Conn.). Tierney added three assists as well, bringing his point total on the night to seven. Gage Sperlonga (Feeding Hills, Mass.) also registered a hat trick with three goals, while both Jake Degnan (Mahopac, N.Y.) and Mason Nocito (Mahopac, N.Y.) posted two goals apiece.

Defensively, Gavin Carzello (Westfield, Mass.) recorded a team-high eight ground balls, while Vincent Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) went 17-for-33 at the face-off X and scooped up six ground balls of his own. Connor Roberts (Somers, Conn.) additionally tallied five ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers. In net, Kaden Quirk (Nahant, Mass.) improved to 7-8 with 12 saves between the pipes for the Pride.

Springfield trailed 4-0 at the end of the opening stanza, but proceeded to go on an 8-0 scoring run that saw the Pride outscore the Engineers 7-0 in the second quarter and post the opening goal of the third period. Tierney tallied Springfield's first goal of the night before Soldo finished a pass from Nocito to cut the Pride deficit in half. Markers by both Matt Webb (Northport, N.Y.) and Tierney midway through the second knotted the score at four apiece.

Soldo gave Springfield a 5-4 edge with 7:11 to play in the second off a feed from Tierney and from that point on the Pride would not relinquish the lead en route to the 18-14 victory. Nocito, Nicholas Gorman (Valhalla, N.Y.) and Sperlonga, on the man-advantage, capped the 8-0 scoring run for the Pride.

The Engineers got a pair back early in the third, but the Pride answered with another long scoring streak – this time five in a row – pushing the Springfield lead to seven, 13-6. The spurt, which lasted just under seven minutes, featured two goals from Sperlonga and one each from Nocito, Degnan and Ryan McDonald (Carmel, N.Y.).

MIT scored the final four goals of the game and outscored Springfield by a 6-4 margin in the fourth, but by that point the lead by the Pride was too much to overcome as the hosts advanced to the NEWMAC title game with an 18-14 victory this evening on Stagg.

As a team, Springfield held a 46-41 advantage in shots, a 34-28 edge in ground balls, and went 24-for-25 in transition.

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