Philadelphia, Pa. – The nation's top defense held the nation's top offense scoreless in the second half as the second-ranked Le Moyne College men's lacrosse team defeated top-ranked Limestone College, 8-4, in the NCAA Division II National Championship game on Sunday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field. The game was the first in Division II history pitting undefeated opponents as the Saints entered 21-0 and the Dolphins entered 19-0.

The Dolphins, who finished the season with a 20-0 record, claim their fifth national championship, all of which have come in the last 13 seasons. The five national titles are tied for the most in Division II since the championship was reinstituted in 1993. The Dolphins are the fifth undefeated national champion (three of which are Le Moyne) in Division II history and the 20 wins are the most by an undefeated team, besting the 18 by the 2006 Dolphins.

The Le Moyne Class of 2016 finishes with a 67-8 overall record and two national championships, while going 41-3 in Northeast-10 Conference action and winning two Northeast-10 Conference Championships. The 67 wins are the most by a class in the program's history.

USILA First Team All-America defender Brendan Entenmann (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) was named the championship game's Most Outstanding Player after holding first team all-American Kyle Rhatigan, who entered the game with 100 points on 58 goals and 42 assists, without a shot or point. Entenmann and the rest of the Le Moyne defense held the Saints, who entered the game averaging 47.95 shots per game, to just 18 attempts, eight of which came in the first quarter. The Saints, who came into the contest with the second-best faceoff percentage at .716, won the first five faceoffs of the game, but won just one of the final nine as Le Moyne junior Kendall Vecchio (Watertown, N.Y./Watertown/Johns Hopkins) went 6-for-6 against two-time USILA/Nike Division II Specialty Player of the Year Kevin Reisman in the second half.

Le Moyne opened the game's scoring 2:31 into the contest as sophomore midfielder Bailey Wilkinson (Black River, N.Y./Carthage) fired home his ninth goal of the season. Less than three minutes later, graduate student midfielder/attackman Matt Taylor (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius/Cornell) registered his 28th goal of the year after taking a pass from senior attackman/midfielder Logan Thomas (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool/Onondaga C.C.) in an extra-man situation with 9:45 left in the opening quarter.

Limestone, which entered the game averaging a nation-best 20 goals per game, answered with three straight goals over a span of 11:37. Jordan Saunderson, who teamed with Thomas to win a NJCAA National Championship at Onondaga Community College in 2013, got the Saints on the scoreboard with 5:01 left in the first quarter after taking a pass in transition from Anthony Quiles. Just 47 seconds later, Saunderson found the back of the net again after collecting a pass from USILA Player and Midfielder of the Year Mike Messenger. Ben Higgins gave Limestone its first lead of the game with his 23rd goal of the season with 8:24 left in the second quarter.

Taylor evened the score for the second time with an unassisted goal off a dodge down the left alley with 5:02 remaining in the half.

The Saints regained the lead just 67 seconds later as Messenger tallied his 60th goal of the season, but that would be Limestone's final goal of the game.

Neither team was able to put a shot on goal over the final 3:55 of the half as the Saints took a 4-3 lead into the intermission.

Senior attackman Mike Jenkins (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) scored the only goal of the third quarter with 9:13 left in the period to knot the score at four apiece. Jenkins tallied his 18th goal of the season after taking a pass in a man-up situation from Taylor.

Le Moyne tallied four goals in the final quarter to record the victory. Thomas gave the Dolphins the lead for good with 12:08 remaining following a pass from junior midfielder Brian Rogers (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa). Only 55 seconds later, Jenkins registered his 64th career goal off another pass from Rogers. After redshirt senior goalkeeper Alex Krawec (Kirkville, N.Y./East Syracuse-Minoa/Onondaga C.C.) made a save on a shot from the front of the crease with 4:27 left, Thomas netted his 47th goal of the year off a pass in transition from junior defenseman Dylan Borkowski (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury). The 47 goals are the second-most by a Dolphin in a season in the program's history and are just one shy of Randy Burnett's program record of 48 set in 1988. The goal also gave Thomas 64 points on the season, which is tied for the ninth-most by a Dolphin in a single season. The assist marked the first point of Borkowski's 37-game career. Freshman midfielder Dan Entenmann (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) completed the game's scoring with 1:58 remaining after coming around the left side of the goal from behind the cage.

Krawec, who was named the USILA Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Jr. Award recipient as the Most Outstanding Goalkeeper and to the USILA All-America First Team for the second consecutive year earlier in the day, registered seven saves between the pipes, including five in the second half, to earn his Division II-record 20th victory of the season. Patrick Sheridan recorded 14 saves in the loss for the Saints.

 

2016 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship Post-game Press Conference Sunday, May 29, 2016 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania   Le Moyne 8, Limestone 4   Head Coach Dan Sheehan Kendall Vecchio Brendan Entenmann Alex Krawec   THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Dan Sheehan, head coach of Le Moyne, and student-athletes, most outstanding player Brendan Entenmann, and Kendall Vecchio and Alex Krawec. Coach, an opening statement. COACH SHEEHAN: You know, this is a group, our program is built around defense. And hopefully there are enough folks in the stands today that understand that No. 1 for Limestone, Mike Messenger, is one of the best players. I've been doing this at Division II for 19 years, and he's one of the best players that I've ever coached against. And for our defense to do what they did, not only against Mike but an offense that's scoring 18, 19 goals a game. That's who we are. That's who we are. And through the entire postseason, we've talked about it's a game of runs. We made a run just like we did last year in the same place. Limestone responded, and we made another run. Last year maybe we didn't have an answer for that second run, but this year I think the table was turned and we're just damn glad to be here. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Brendan, your matchup obviously -- congrats on the award -- but your matchup, what kind of went into that and obviously kind of going back to what Coach was just saying, you guys were in this spot a year ago, didn't finish. This time around what was different for you guys finishing up there in the fourth quarter? BRENDAN ENTENMANN: Well, it's really a team effort. So you go into the matchup against a great player like Kyle Rhatigan, obviously you have your 1-on-1 matchups but when you have six other guys behind you on the same page that are willing to help and willing to cover up your mistakes and give you another sense of confidence. So you're not, you don't get stage fright so much as if you have your whole team behind you. So I was proud of how our team was cohesive. Q. Alex, I'm guessing the shot volume was a lot lower than what you were expecting for this team, but how about the shot selection, did it line up with what you were expecting? ALEX KRAWEC: Yeah, it's just a tribute to the five or six guys in front of me all day, putting us in the best position to see the shots I wanted to see. And at the end of the day I think I only had seven or eight saves, but they're the shots you wanted to see. The defense did a great job in front of me. Q. Brendan, kind of felt like this team was very battle tested comparatively to Limestone. Just the run that you had in the postseason where you had some games that were close, some runs that you had to kind of prevent from some very high-powered teams, how prepared did you feel was that run leading up to it? BRENDAN ENTENMANN: If you look at New York Tech, we weren't, we hadn't been trailing a team in the fourth quarter the entire season. I think that was a really important moment for us, where we could face that kind of adversity towards the end of the game where we really need a goal. We really need a stop on the other end. So specifically that game. But again Merrimack is a great team that we played, and just playing high-powered teams during the season I think really prepared us well for this matchup today. Q. Brendan, and for any of the players really, can you just talk about what goes on at Le Moyne practices, like over the course of your career? And maybe specifically for Brendan, what kind of work were you doing on a day-to-day basis to get you to where you're at to have this kind of performance today in this game? BRENDAN ENTENMANN: It's not really, like, there is any single things that I do to play how I do. It's really just doing normal stuff like talking off ball and helping out your teammates because that's really what it comes down to. It's really cohesive practice like every day, offense and defense. It's not one guy showing up by himself. It's a collective effort from everybody. And I think that showed today. Defensively we were really tight, and offensively we were able to get some goals that were off great assists. KENDALL VECCHIO: Not much. Comes down to Coach getting on me every single day to get out there and where I'm not working hard, pushing me, everybody pushing me and getting in there, getting some extra ground balls, extra faceoffs at the end of the day. Everybody rattled me today. I'm still starstruck right now. ALEX KRAWEC: Practice every day, it's intense, up and down for two straight hours. We don't go that long, but just every second that we're there we're getting up and down the field, getting those guys conditioned. 24/7. The defense is working well, the offense. And for our 1s to go against our 2s every day, it's amazing, making our 1st ten times better because our second team and our scout team really, it's a test for them to go out, for example, prepare for Limestone all week, have three different kids running for Mike Messenger, different people running for Rhatigan, et cetera, and just the scout team, really hats off to them. They did a hell of a job this week. It's impressive. Q. Kendall, you're going against a guy today who has been the dominant faceoff specialist in Division II lacrosse. How did you prepare for this? KENDALL VECCHIO: I can't get any credit without Coach Sheehan and Coach Cassalia getting on me. Coach Cassalia showed me everything and prepared me this whole week through text messages and video. And when he came in our practices he showed me everything. And I can't do anything without the scout guys. They give me a great look. Guys in the stands who didn't really play, they gave me a great, great look this week. And every single faceoff, I went out there, he just told me just, go out there and make it your game. And it really rattled me to try and come out and come strong for the second half. And I appreciate everything that team does for me. Q. For all three, given you were in this spot last year that they were able to get the better of you guys, just how much did that loss stick with you guys over the last year and how special is it to finish them off this time to get your title? ALEX KRAWEC: I mean, it really does stick with you every day, with me. Coach was sitting in this chair last year and we're hearing Limestone (celebrate), being over there, that's a moment you'll never forget. It stuck with us the whole entire offseason, even through summer, every sprint we do, every lift we do, every practice we have, this is what we have in mind; the end goal is to beat Limestone and to get back here. KENDALL VECCHIO: Kind of sat with me for a long time. Got the trophy they give you, just sat there in front of my face and looked at me every single day. And I mean going through lifts, trying to run and stuff like that, it willed me to want to come back and not be in the same position as last year. It was a terrible feeling. I wanted to give these seniors something to go out on. BRENDAN ENTENMANN: We certainly never forgot about last year, to see the disappointment on the seniors' faces, that we had to pass off. It was really fulfilling to redeem ourselves. I mean even looking at the game, it was similar to how it started last year. We went up early a little bit. They rallied back. We were down for a little bit. Then this time we were able to, like Coach said, we absorbed the second wave and we could do what we've been practicing to do and we executed very well today. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. What specifically did you do defensively to slow down this very high-powered offense? Coach Clarke talked about quick slides, doing things to prevent them from using picks. Can you kind of break it down a little bit for us, what this team did defensively? COACH SHEEHAN: It's funny, I read a quote that J.B. made after last weekend and it talked about something like this, 'Le Moyne does a great job in getting you to take the shots they want you to take.' And Brendan is one hell of a player. But in my opinion, the most outstanding player without question of today's game is No. 17, Kyle DeAngelis. We covered the best player in Division II with a short stick. So anybody who knows anything about lacrosse, yeah. So one of the guys who should be here is Kyle. Our program is built around short stick defensive midfielders. You can watch the games tomorrow and success or failures are going to happen on the shoulders of two guys on the field in your defensive end. 99 percent of the time. And yeah, so matchup-wise, we have a recipe. And I'll be honest with you, we had a -- back at the hotel, we had a big screen TV with all the DVD hookups and computer hookups to watch film. We don't watch a drop of film when we step foot in Philadelphia, because it's really got nothing to do with the guys in the locker room that way. Our recipe says it has everything to do with the guys in the locker room on that side. When I can trust a guy like Kyle DeAngelis to cover the best player -- did he slide a lot? Yeah, I would say that we made some plays when they turned their back to the cage. And, again, I think they scored zero goals in the second half. They took 18 shots. They had 18 shots by breakfast this morning. So our defense is what wins championships. And this time of year, when you're good in the goal and you're good at the X, Kendall Vecchio has taken maybe a third of our faceoffs all year long, if that. And I think our staff does a great job of putting kids in spots to be successful. And we believe in them. That's one hell of a team, without question. Limestone is one hell of a team. Somebody told me earlier that the Vegas odds were 3.5 or something like that. That's a hell of a team. And they took 18 shots. We're from Syracuse where it hasn't gotten above 62 degrees the entire year, and I think we were in better shape today. And actually it was a little warmer up there last week. Q. I don't know if "bold" is the right word but some coaching moves you did, using a faceoff guy who has taken about a third of your draws, putting a short stick on the best player in the country, moving a guy like Taylor to attack from midfield, a lot of shake-ups, pregame, a lot of bold moves, your reasoning behind that? COACH SHEEHAN: Oh, boy. Brilliant minds, maybe. I don't know. No, it's really simple. Anybody that was standing on our bench the word that came out of every coach's mouths on the side is "simple." Simple isn't always easier. We try to keep things simple. And we believe in our guys. We have the opportunity to have a front row seat to watch Kyle DeAngelis beat people up every day in practice, dealing with up Brian Rogers every single day in practice. So outside of our recipe, like I said, we couldn't wait to get out of town, but while we were in town it was all about Limestone. And as soon as we got here it's all about us. I apologize, it's nothing sexier than that. There was not one scratch on a grease board on our sidelines that game. So there's no master, like, super secret plays by any means. Q. Last year you also had a very good defense. They had a very good offense. But what do you think was the big difference between the two seasons? COACH SHEEHAN: Well, the difference in the two games, Limestone made a play off a faceoff last year where Reisman put it behind him. 11 (Reid Reinholdt) picked it up and Mike Messenger caught it on a dead sprint. Anybody that remembers that play. That was a dagger, an absolute dagger, into 48 guys' hearts. So there was quite a big emphasis on wing play. Offensively I think we made some plays. I think looking back the first half is a little bit sloppy. We had an opportunity to when we walked in the locker room at halftime I said, 'We're winning every aspect of this game except the one that matters.' We didn't change anything that we were doing. We just got better. Q. You just said the keyword, "get better." Can you talk about your coaching philosophy and how maybe it's evolved over the course of seasons, to do that differently, to get better differently? COACH SHEEHAN: You know, I ride these guys really hard. It's nothing brilliant. It's more real world. We have a pursuit of excellence. If they do something well, I want it better. And a lot of the times during practice it comes up to be, okay, if I was your boss and you were my employee, like would this be acceptable or would I replace you? So I think we try to give the kids a real world, that and I think we talk an awful lot -- we coach for May. If it's not acceptable in May, it's not okay. And that's starting first fall ball practice. They probably get sick of hearing me tell stories about opportunities to be here in Philadelphia. But I think in 19 years I think I have a pretty good idea of what it takes and hats off to them that they listen. I think probably the thing I'm most proud of this year, we're pretty damn good. And I don't think we've played our best lacrosse yet. And we're going to graduate Alex who is one hell of a keeper. But I get the two other guys back. And that scout team, it took us six guys to fill the shoes of Mike Messenger this week in practice. But those six guys got better this week. And we'll have them next year. THE MODERATOR: Thank you.