Overtime was the theme on Championship Saturday with three conference titles games requiring extra time. It started off early in morning with Canisius stunning Detroit Mercy in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference final and kept on rolling with the Northeast Conference and Southern Conference finals playing overtime simultaneously.
Here's a recap of a great day of lacrosse.
Robert Morris Earns First NCAA Bid
Tyson Gibson sent Robert Morris to its first NCAA tournament, scoring with 19 seconds left in the first overtime period to give the Colonials a 9-8 win over St. Joseph's in the Northeast Conference final.
Tyson Gibson wins it in OT. @RMUMLacrosse downs St. Joe's 9-8 in @necmlax final. First @NCAALAX bid for Colonials. pic.twitter.com/CRl69MoMWk
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) May 5, 2018
St. Joe's used three separate three-goal runs to take a 6-3 halftime lead, but Robert Morris outscored the Hawks 5-0 in the third quarter, taking an 8-6 lead into the final quarter. The score remained that way as the clock ticked under five minutes to play, but St. Joe's Kyle Cain scored back-to-back goals, the last coming with 15 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Matt Schmidt led Robert Morris with three goals and two assists and Gibson and Ryan Smith each scored twice. The Colonials head to the NCAA tournament with a 12-4 record, including a win over Penn State.
Cain scored four times for St. Joe's.
Canisius Wins MAAC on Crazy Ending
Canisius won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in dramatic fashion, as Mathieu Boissonneault intercepted a pass off the faceoff and scored on an empty net to give the Griffs a 10-9 overtime win against Detroit Mercy.
Wild ending to @MAACSports championship. Detroit wins faceoff to start OT, but turns it over and Mathieu Boissonneault scores on the empty net to punch @GriffsMLax to @NCAALAX tourney with 10-9 win. pic.twitter.com/PWmYjSn46j
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) May 5, 2018
It was the fifth one-goal victory of the season for Canisius (8-8), which is headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012.
"It's a little surreal right now, the fact that it happened," said first-year Canisius head coach Mark Miyashita. "All the hard work these guys put in, this is the payoff. We talked about the first step, which was qualifying for the MAAC Championship. The second step was winning the semifinal game and we said that if we did that, then we would worry about that third step on gameday. The guys really battled together today. It's an amazing feeling."
Connor Kearnan, who was named the MAAC tournament MVP, scored the game-tying goal with 38 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. Kearnan had two goals and two assists today and Carter Stefaniak led the Golden Griffs with four goals.
Richmond Rallies for First Southern Conference Title
Trailing by two goals with under four minutes to play, Richmond forced overtime on consecutive goals by Ryan Lee and then won the Southern Conference championship, beating Jacksonville 11-10 on Teddy Hatfield's goal with 1:32 to play in the first overtime period.
It was the sixth straight win for the Spiders, who will be heading to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014.
"It's an indescribable feeling," said Richmond head coach Dan Chemotti. "I am so happy for our guys for never giving in today and battling back. There was no panic in our team today and it was a remarkable performance to win the championship in front of our crowd."
Lee had three goals and four assists, giving him 12 points in two tournament games, for the Spiders and Mitch Savoca had a hat trick. Richmond goalie Blake Goodman made 11 saves, including a point blank save at the end of regulation to send the game to overtime.
Will Hendrick paced Jacksonville with three goals and an assist and Hunter Forbes won 16-of-25 faceoffs.
No Fields, No Problem for Albany
Playing without injured star Connor Fields, Albany used a dominant first quarter to set the tone in a 14-4 win over Vermont to win the America East championship.
Seven different players scored goals in the opening 15 minutes for the Danes, and TD Ierlan won all eight faceoffs on his way to a perfect 20-for-20 day. Ierlan was named the American East tourney MVP after winning 48-of-49 faceoffs in the tournament.
No Connor Fields, but @UAlbanyMLax leads @UVMmlax 7-0 after first quarter in @AmericaEast final on this late goal by Josh Egan. TD Ierlan 8-for-8 on faceoffs. pic.twitter.com/QpM2a5U839
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) May 5, 2018
After Kyle McClancy's goal gave Albany an 8-0 with 13:16 left in the second quarter, Vermont held the Danes off the board for the next 26 minutes and slowly crept back into the game, pulling to within 8-3 on Liam Limoges goal with 6:41 left in the third.
Albany answered with two goals in the final 2:17 of the third quarter and then scored four times in the opening five minutes of the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Jakob Patterson led Albany's offense with four points (3g, 1a) and JD Colarusso made 12 saves.
Massachusetts Wins CAA Title
Massachusetts is headed to its first NCAA tournament since 2012 after downing Towson 12-8 in the Colonial Athletic Association championship to win its 11th straight game after opening the season with a 1-4 record.
UMass freshman Chris Connolly, the CAA Rookie of the Year, had three goals and three assists to lead the Minutemen, none bigger than his goal to start the fourth quarter.
Chris Connolly scores his 3rd of the game!! 6 points in the game for the CAA freshman of the year!#GorillaLacrosee #CAALax #CAACHAMPS pic.twitter.com/AO3uvGl6Yk
— UMass Men's Lacrosse (@UMassMLacrosse) May 5, 2018
Towson's Johnny Giuffreda scored with just nine seconds left in the third quarter to pull the Tigers within two goals entering the final quarter. Connolly scored with 13:22 left in the fourth quarter to help settle things and Towson never got closer than two goals down the stretch.
Jeff Trainor added two goals and two assists for UMass and Buddy Carr also scored twice. UMass goalie Sean Sconone made 16 saves.
Towson was led by Jean-Luc Chetner with a goal and three assists and Grant Maloof and Giuffreda each scored twice. Alex Woodall won 14-of-23 faceoffs.
Other Games
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Johns Hopkins erased the pain of last week's triple overtime loss to Maryland, beating the Terps 13-10 to win the Big Ten championship.
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Georgetown used a suffocating defensive effort to upset Denver 8-3 and win the Big East championship.
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Notre Dame stretched its winning streak to three games with a dominating 17-5 win over Army. John Gleason led the Irish with four goals and two assists, Matt Schmidt made seven saves while allowing just three goals and John Travisano won 12-of-16 faceoffs.
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Syracuse downed state rival Colgate 17-5 behind four goals and an assist from Brendan Bomberry. The Orange scored the first six goals in the contest.
Scoreboard
America East Championship: Albany 14, Vermont 4
Big East Championship: Georgetown 8, Denver 3
Big Ten Championship: Johns Hopkins 13, Maryland 10
CAA Championship: Massachusetts 12, Towson 8
MAAC Championship: Canisius 10, Detroit Mercy 9 (OT)
Northeast Conference Championship: Robert Morris 9, Saint Joseph's 8 (OT)
Southern Conference Championship: Richmond 11, Jacksonville 10 (OT)
Notre Dame 17, Army 5
Syracuse 17, Colgate 5