SYRACUSE, N.Y.— The No. 2-ranked Le Moyne Dolphins lacrosse team defeated Limestone 8-5 in front of a crowd of 1215 at the Niland Athletic Complex to advance to the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship game next weekend. Limestone ends the season with 14-2 record as the Dolphins improve to 14-2.

Limestone's Ryan Collins scored the first goal of the match at 12:08 in the first quarter. Matt Cassalia gave Le Moyne the 2-1 lead with back-to-back goals. The Dolphins built a two-goal lead as Mike McDonald added another point with five minutes left.

The Dolphins' Nick Grato scored off a pass to put the score at 4-1 with eight minutes left in the second quarter. Neither team scored in the remainder of the period as Le Moyne entered halftime with the lead.

Justin Haworth blasted a shot early in the third quarter on the Saints' first possession to cut the hosts' lead to two. Limestone had goals from Matt Pinder and Haworth to even the score at 4-4. McDonald had a goal to give the lead back to Le Moyne heading into the final quarter.

Goals by Matt Cassalia and McDonald put the Dolphins up 7-4 in the fourth. Haworth scored his third goal of the match late in the game to put Limestone within two, but Brian Cost scored on Le Moyne's next possession.

Saints' goalkeeper Marty Ward recorded 11 saves while Jared Corcoran had seven.

LeMoyne will face the winner of the No. 1 Mercyhurst/No. 3 New York Institute of Technology in the tournament championship on May 27 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md., at 4:30 p.m.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Limestone College...  1  0  3  1 -  5
Le Moyne............  3  1  1  3 -  8
 
Attendance: 1,215
 
Limestone College SCORING:
GOALS: Haworth, Justin 3; Pinder, Matt 1; Collins; Ryan 1.
ASSISTS: None.
 
Le Moyne SCORING:
GOALS: Matt Cassalia 3; Mike McDonald 3; Nick Gatto 1; Brian Cost 1.
ASSISTS: Matt Cassalia 1; Nick Gatto 1; Brad Wolken 1.
 
Shots by period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Limestone College...  5  6  8  2 - 21
Le Moyne............ 13  7  7  7 - 34
 
Ground balls by prd   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Limestone College...  7  5 12  4 - 28
Le Moyne............  8  6  9 11 - 34
 
Face-offs by prd       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Limestone College...  0-5   1-2   4-5   2-5  -  7-17
Le Moyne............  5-5   1-2   1-5   3-5  - 10-17
 
Clears by period       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Limestone College...  5-7   4-4   6-6   2-3  - 17-20
Le Moyne............  5-6   4-5   6-6   4-4  - 19-21
 
Extra-man opps         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Limestone College...  0-1   0-2   0-1   0-0  -  0-4
Le Moyne............  0-0   0-2   0-0   0-2  -  0-4
 
Saves by period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Limestone College...  4  3  3  1 - 11
Le Moyne............  2  1  3  1 -  7
 
Turnovers by prd      1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Limestone College...  5  4  7  5 - 21
Le Moyne............  3  2  4  5 - 14
 
PENALTIES - LCM07 4/3:30; LEM 4/2:30.

2007-05-19