Twelve different members of the fifth-ranked St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team scored as the Saints defeated Montclair State 19-6 in the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament Wednesday afternoon at North Country Field. St. Lawrence returns to the third round of the tournament for the second season in a row. 

Steven Peterson recorded a season-high of three goals to complete a hat trick and lead the Saints in the win over the Red Hawks. Conor Healey scored two goals and added three assists to increase his career-point total to 286. Jamie Kuppel and Jordan Dow each tallied two goals and an assist, while Jon Fairbanks and Austin Nadeau scored two goals.

Jamie DeNicola, Andrew Jarrett, Connor Brimley, Jack Suominen, Alec Dietsch and Cal Hynson also scored for the Saints. Alex Terry and Matty Corbelle made a total of six saves for St. Lawrence.

St. Lawrence took a 2-0 lead early on and would maintain control of the leaderboard throughout the contest. Matt Haemmerle put the Red Hawks on the board with 11 minutes to play in the first quarter. The Saints captured a 5-1 lead by the end of the quarter.

Caleb Kane caused a turnover in the St. Lawrence zone, allowing  Terry to pick up the ground ball and Dietsch went end-to-end to give the Saints a 9-3 lead. Haemmerle netted his 51^st goal of the season and his fourth of the game with 27 seconds remaining in the second to draw the game within four. Peterson hit the top shelf to extend the lead to 10-5 heading into the third quarter.

"I'm just really impressed with how our guys came out of the gate. We wanted to get out to an early start and Montclair did a nice job of clawing back into it a little bit in the second quarter," said head coach Mike Mahoney. "I thought we responded really well in the second half, with one of the strongest halves of lacrosse we've played at both ends of the field."

The Red Hawks capitalized on 50 percent of their man-up opportunities. Alex Hahn netted Montclair State's final man-up goal of the game from the top of the arc. The Saints added another eight goals to close the contest.   



"Offensively, we shared the ball and shot the ball well. Defensively, we played solid team defense. Faceoff wise, we were good in the circle and they competed with an excellent faceoff midfielder," said Mahoney. "All-in-all, just happy with the effort and excited to head out for practice tomorrow and get ready for Saturday."

Montclair State was led by Haemmerle with four goals, while Brady Wulster scored one goal and assisted on another. Hahn also netted one goal for the Red Hawks. Lucas Jones and Jack Cardew combined for nine saves in goal for Montclair State.

Both teams successfully hit 100 percent on their clearing opportunities, while the Saints picked up 28 ground balls to the Red Hawks' 20.

The Red Hawks concluded their season 11-8 after making their ninth-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, while the Saints improved to 16-2.

St. Lawrence will advance to face SUNY Cortland in the round of 16 at North Country Field at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.