WALTHAM, Mass. – Seventh-ranked and third-seeded Bentley University advanced to the semifinals of the Northeast-10 men's lacrosse Tournament with a 13-5 victory over sixth-seeded Southern New Hampshire on Tuesday night. Senior Andy Curtis (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) and junior Wyatt Couture (South Hadley, Mass./Avon Old Farms) each had a hat trick.

With the win, the Falcons advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2005. The win also sets up a rematch with No. 4 and second-seed Merrimack in North Andover, Mass., on Friday, May 1 at 4:00 p.m. The Warriors topped Bentley 6-5 six days ago in Waltham in a thrilling triple overtime contest.

Southern New Hampshire had to play catch-up nearly the entire game, but got to within 7-4, its smallest deficit of the second half, after freshman Andrew Brown scored the second of two straight Penmen goals with 7:14 left in the third quarter.

After that goal however, Bentley started to pull away. Junior Stephen Moulton (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) scored at the 5:02 mark, then sophomore Steve Murray (Billerica, Mass./Billerica) found the back of the net with just 19 seconds left in the quarter.

With a 10-4 lead, Curtis added on with his second of the game 5:51 into the fourth quarter. Southern New Hampshire's Keith Merluzzo scored just 15 seconds after Curtis' goal, but Couture gave the Falcons their six-goal lead back by scoring with 7:53 to play.

The Penmen scored the first goal of the game 51 seconds in courtesy of Brown. Another goal wasn't scored until just past the six-and-a-half minute mark, but it went Bentley's way when Couture scored unassisted. Junior Chris Woods (Duxbury, Mass./Sandwich) gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead, then junior Kevin Gould (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) scored twice over the final four minutes of the quarter, including one with a man advantage, to give Bentley a 4-1 lead heading into the second quarter.

Goalie Kris Dambach (Chester, N.J./West Morris Central) made 12 saves to earn his ninth win of the season. Second-team All-Conference selection Matt Allen (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) led the Bentley defense with three caused turnovers and four ground balls.

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WALTHAM, Mass. – Third-seeded Bentley University eliminated sixth-seeded Southern New Hampshire University from the 2009 Northeast-10 Men's Lacrosse Championship with a 13-5 win in a first round game Tuesday night. The Falcons, who are ranked seventh nationally, improve to 9-3 and advance to face second-seeded Merrimack Friday. The Penmen see their season come to a close at 4-10 overall.

Bentley was led by Andy Curtis, who notched three goals and an assist, while Wyatt Couture also scored three times. Andrew Brown (Marshfield, MA) paced Southern New Hampshire with three goals, while Mike Ball (Salem, NH) finished with a goal and two assists. Keith Merluzzo (Billerica, MA) had the other Penmen tally.

Southern New Hampshire would take a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the game as Brown scored off a feed from Ball with 14:09 left in the first quarter. The Falcons would score the final four goals of the first quarter and a Kevin Gould man-advantage goal with 28 seconds left made it 4-1 after one quarter. Bentley outscored SNHU 3-1 in the second to take a 7-2 halftime lead.

Ball and Brown would score the first two goals of the second half to pull the Penmen within three, 7-4, with 7:14 left in the third quarter. Bentley responded with two third quarter goals of its own, then scored 5:51 into the fourth to make it 10-4. The Falcons would score the game's final three goals to seal the win.

Kris Dembach made 12 saves in the win for Bentley, as the Falcons generated a 46-25 shot advantage. Brendan O'Brien (Hopkinton, MA) made 18 saves for Southern New Hampshire.

SNHU was making its first Northeast-10 Tournament appearance since 2006.

2009-04-29