Syracuse, N.Y. – Sophomore midfielder Evan Kelly (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Aquinas Institute) scored with 2.9 seconds remaining as the third-ranked and second-seeded Le Moyne College men's lacrosse team rallied for a 12-11 win over fifth-ranked and third-seeded Merrimack College in the semifinals of the Northeast-10 Conference Championships on Wednesday afternoon at Ted Grant Field.

The Dolphins advance to the NE10 Championship game for the 18th time in their 23 years in the conference and will visit second-ranked and top-seeded Adelphi University on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The Dolphins and Panthers are meeting in the championship game for the fourth time (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) in seven years, with the road team winning the three previous meetings.
 
After junior goalkeeper Riley Smith (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker/Onondaga C.C.) made three saves in the opening 73 seconds of the game, the Dolphins opened the game's scoring. Junior attackman Riley Larson (Fairfield, Conn./Ludlowe) netted his 33rd goal of the season at the 12:50 mark off a pass from sophomore attackman Devin Andrews (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua/Stony Brook). Following 11 empty possessions between the two teams over the next almost seven minutes, freshman midfielder Colin Sypek (Lake Worth, Fla./American Heritage School (Delray Beach)) netted his 13th goal of the year from the left alley with 5:56 to go. Andrews gave the Dolphins their largest lead of the game with 4:37 remaining in the quarter off a pass from Larson.

Merrimack, which won last year's conference championship, ran off six straight goals over the opening 10:46 of the second quarter. After the Warriors started the period on an extra-man opportunity, Christian Thomas scored 23 seconds in off a pass from Sean Black. He scored again 70 seconds later off a feed from brother Dom Thomas. NE10 Player of the Year Charlie Bertrand knotted the score at three with 11:27 left with his 59th goal of the season. He tallied his 60th just 39 seconds later. Following a penalty on the Dolphins on the ensuing faceoff for their third faceoff violation, Michael O'Connell scored in the man-up situation off a pass from Black with 10:32 left. Following over six minutes of scoreless play, long-stick Christian Glover scored his second goal of the year after taking a pass in transition from Black.

After being held scoreless for almost 17 minutes, the Dolphins scored the final two goals of the quarter to get within 6-5 at halftime. Off a Merrimack turnover, senior midfielder Ryan Cosgrove (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) rifled in his 16th goal of the season in transition with 2:40 left. He scored again from the left edge of the crease with 38 seconds left off a feed from sophomore midfielder Ben McCreary (Cicero, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy).

Le Moyne evened the score at six just 39 seconds into the third quarter as junior attackman Matt Hutchings (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus) tallied his 28th goal of the year.

The Warriors took the lead back with 5:31 to go as Christian Thomas finished off another pass from Dom Thomas for his 40th goal of the season.

The Dolphins countered with back-to-back goals to regain the lead. Cosgrove tied the score with 2:56 to go with his 18th marker of the campaign to complete his second career hat trick. Larson put the Dolphins in front just 55 seconds later off a feed from Kelly.

Max Morrill scored off a rebound of a saved shot with 57 seconds left to even the score at eight.

Junior midfielder Ross Filtch (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus/Siena) gave the Dolphins the lead heading into the final quarter by finishing off a pass from Andrews for his 12th goal of the year.

Merrimack tallied the first three goals of the fourth quarter to take a two-goal advantage. Black tied the score at nine with 12:08 left off a move around the left side of the cage. Following a Le Moyne penalty, Dom Thomas scored in the extra-man situation with 10:23 left off a pass from Christian Thomas for a 10-9 lead. Black scored again with 5:28 left for his 28th tally of the season.

Le Moyne answered with the final three goals of the game. Larson pulled the Dolphins within 11-10 with 4:22 left with his 35th goal of the season after collecting a pass from Hutchings.

After Smith made a save on a shot by Black with 54 seconds left and Black stepped in the crease, the Dolphins cleared the ball and called timeout with 42 seconds left. Out of the timeout, the Dolphins worked the ball over to Hutchings on the right side of the field. He made a move to the middle of the field and fired a shot inside the near right post with 25.9 seconds left for his 29th goal of the season.

Merrimack won the ensuing faceoff, but Christian Thomas lost control of the ball at midfield and junior faceoff specialist Ryan Gabriel (Homer, N.Y./Homer/Clarkson) scooped up the loose ball and the Dolphins called timeout with 8.7 seconds left. Again, Hutchings cut to the middle of the field from the right side before drawing two defenders and sending a pass to the left edge of the crease to Kelly, who faked the goalkeeper before tallying his ninth goal of the season with just 2.9 seconds remaining.

Smith finished the game with a career-high 18 saves, including five in the third quarter and four in the fourth, to earn his 14th win of the season. The 18 saves are the most by a Dolphin goalkeeper in over three years. Nick Ponte made four saves (all after halftime) in the loss for the Warriors.