Saint Anselm seems to have taken a liking to playing Mercy in May.
For the second straight year, the Hawks downed Mercy in the NCAA tournament — this time as the lone lower-seeded team to down its opponent in the NCAA Division II men’s quarterfinals.
Saint Anselm — 14-11 winners — never trailed after Jack Robinson knotted the score at 5 with 7:06 left in the second quarter. Jake Davis converted a feed from Will Andrews 79 seconds later for a 6-5 lead.
After Andrew Calabria equalized at 6 for Mercy, Saint Anselm ripped off four straight — two more by Davis and one each from Maverick Lyon and Colin Mulvey.
Up 10-6, Saint Anselm kept enough distance from Mercy to advance to the semifinals against Adelphi next Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT.
Davis led Saint Anselm with five goals and two assists. Nick Larsen, Lyon and Mulvey all scored twice. Saint Anselm overcame a massive faceoff deficit, 20-9, because Mercy turned the ball over 21 times.
Adelphi 14, Pace 9
Adelphi is back in the NCAA semifinals for the first time since 2017 after overcoming a quick two-goal deficit against conference rival Pace. Kyle Lewis, Braden Donnellan and Logan Tucker combined for 10 goals in the 14-9 win. Dylan Renner made 15 saves.
Much like Saint Anselm, Adelphi overcame a faceoff disadvantage (10-for-26). Pace turned it over 19 times and shot 0-for-4 on extra-man opportunities.