Syracuse, N.Y. – Christian Thomas scored his fourth goal of the game 29 seconds into overtime to give seventh-ranked and sixth-seeded Merrimack College a 15-14 overtime win over second-ranked and top-seeded Le Moyne College in the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championships semifinals on Saturday afternoon at Ted Grant Field.


The Dolphins finish the season with a 16-3 record after winning a share of their 17th Northeast-10 Conference regular season championship and 14th NE10 Tournament championship.

The Warriors, who advance to their third straight NCAA title game, scored the game's first four goals over the initial 3:26. Charlie Bertrand, last year's USILA Attackman and Co-Player of the Year, started the scoring just 32 seconds into the contest after taking a pass from Sean Black. Following a turnover by the Dolphins, Bertrand registered an unassisted goal at the 13:12 mark. Max Morrill pushed the lead to three with an unassisted tally with 12:20 to go to force a Le Moyne timeout. Just 46 seconds later, Drew Hailey capped the streak with his ninth goal of the year off a pass from Bertrand.

Le Moyne answered with four straight goals in a span of 3:41. After Merrimack won the ensuing faceoff but immediately turned the ball over, the Dolphins got on the scoreboard as junior attackman Matt Hutchings (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus) finished off a pass from senior midfielder Josh Slowinski (Williamsville, N.Y./Clarence) with 10:42 to go. Off the following faceoff, junior attackman Riley Larson (Fairfield, Conn./Ludlowe) collected the loose ball in Le Moyne's offensive end of the field and raced in to score just nine seconds after the goal by Hutchings. Junior attackman Devin Andrews (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua Academy/Stony Brook) got the Dolphins within one with 8:24 left with his 24th marker of the season. After causing a Merrimack turnover, freshman midfielder Colin Sypek (Lake Worth, Fla./American Heritage School (Delray Beach)) netted his 16th goal of the season with 7:01 left to tie score at four apiece.

Following turnovers by each team, Merrimack regained the lead with 5:32 left in the quarter as Seamus Ford scored from the left edge of the crease off a pass from Black.

After five empty possessions for each team over the next five minutes, the Dolphins closed out the scoring in the quarter with seven seconds left as Larson finished off a feed from Andrews.

The teams traded goals in the second quarter. Following a save by junior goalkeeper Riley Smith (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker/Onondaga C.C.) and a Le Moyne timeout, the Dolphins took their first lead of the game at the 10:48 mark as Andrews finished off a pass from Hutchings for his 25th goal of the season.

Merrimack evened the score at six three and one-half minutes later as Christian Thomas tallied his first goal of the game.

Hutchings gave the lead back to the Dolphins with 5:45 remaining in the half with an unassisted tally.

After winning the ensuing faceoff and calling timeout, Bertrand netted his third goal of the contest just 11 seconds out of the timeout to tie the score at seven with 5:16 to go.

Just 43 seconds later, Slowinski recorded his 24th goal of the campaign after taking a pass from Sypek.

Just under two minutes later, Christian Thomas knotted the score at eight each with an unassisted goal.

Hutchings gave the Dolphins the lead again with 1:18 remaining in the half after collecting a feed from Slowinski.

Following five and one-half minutes of scoreless play to start the third quarter, the Dolphins took their first two-goal lead of the game as senior midfielder Ryan Cosgrove (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) found the back of the net at the 9:24 mark off a pass from senior midfielder Dan Entenmann (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn).

Merrimack answered back with 8:33 left in the stanza as Tyler Liantonio scored from the left side off a pass from Black.

The Dolphins regained their two-goal lead with 6:22 to go on Entenmann's 23rd tally of the season into the upper left corner of the net from the right alley.

Merrimack completed the scoring in the third quarter with 3:46 left to ignite a 4-0 run. In an extra-man situation, Bertrand scored after taking a pass from Christian Thomas.

The Warriors took advantage of three more Le Moyne penalties to take a two-goal lead. Michael O'Connell evened the score at 11 apiece with 10:43 remaining after collecting a pass on the front of the crease from Dom Thomas in the first of the three extra-man opportunities. Less than 90 seconds later, Bertrand scored from straightaway off a feed from Christian Thomas with 9:17 to play. Just 52 seconds later, the Warriors capitalized on another holding penalty as Christian Thomas scored from the left alley off a pass from behind the net by Black.

Le Moyne answered back with three straight goals, including the first two in a span of 76 seconds to tie the score. Following a two and one-half minute possession, Larson scored his team-best 42nd goal of the season from the left edge of the crease after taking a pass from the right goal-line extended from Entenmann with 5:26 remaining, which snapped a scoring drought of 15:56. After the Dolphins won the ensuing faceoff, Cosgrove scored from in front of the crease at the 4:10 mark off a feed from Hutchings from the left goal-line extended. With the assist, Hutchings became just the third player in the program's history to register at least 30 goals and 30 assists in the same season and is the first to do so since Jeff Sanford '02 (45g, 30a) in 2002.
 
Following a save by Smith and a turnover by each team over the next two and one-half minutes, the Dolphins cleared the ball and called timeout with 1:20 remaining. After running time off the clock, Hutchings made a move to the center of the field from the right side and got within 10 yards of the goal before firing a shot over the goalkeeper's head with 25.8 seconds remaining to give the Dolphins a 14-13 lead. The goal marked the 69th point of the season for Hutchings, the fourth-most in a season by a Dolphin and the most since Sanford in 2002. Larson (42) and Hutchings (39) are just the sixth duo in the program's history to each record 39 goals in a season.

Merrimack won the ensuing faceoff and called timeout with 16.2 seconds remaining. Off the restart, Bertrand had the ball knocked out of his stick and it bounced towards the endline. Black raced in and scooped up the ball before it could go out of bounds and then moved towards the left side of the crease before flipping a pass to the right edge of the crease to Dom Thomas, who dropped a shot into the back of the net with 3.5 seconds left to tie the score at 14.

The Warriors won the opening faceoff of the overtime session and called timeout with 3:54 remaining. Out of the timeout, the ball eventual ended up with Christian Thomas on the left side of the field. He worked around two picks at the top of the box before firing a shot into the back of the net from the right alley at the 3:31 mark for his 50th goal of the season.

Smith finished the game with eight saves, including five in the third quarter, in the loss. Nick Ponte improved to 11-2 on the season after registering 15 saves between the pipes, including at least four saves in each of the first three quarters.