OT Slugfests, Standout Performances Highlight D-II Men's Conference Championships

May 5, 2025

Dan Arestia and Kyle Devitte

Shelby Streeter/Colorado Mesa

The Division II men's lacrosse bracket is set.

But how did we get here? Dan Arestia and Kyle Devitte break down everything that happened in Division II over the weekend.

TOP GAMES

Wingate def. Anderson 17-11

The most unlikely final of the entire weekend? If you asked the entire SAC if they thought it would happen, only the Anderson and Wingate head coaches would say yes. Totally wild that they played for an AQ in this league after all the upsets and craziness of this season. And the title game got the memo. Weather delays meant a late start, but one team was less tardy than the other in the scoring department.

While Anderson struggled to find rhythm, Wingate cooked early. Anderson drew first blood, opening the contest with a tally from Diego Lopez. That just set Wingate off on a four-goal run to finish out the quarter with dominant possessions.

Down 8-4 in the second quarter, Anderson went off for three goals in less than three minutes thanks to great faceoff play from the Trojans, switching hot hands between AJ Rush and Aiden Dixon to try and keep the Bulldog FOGOs off balance. Unfortunately, that flurry would be the last gasp, as Wingate buckled down on defense, battened the hatches and kept scoring.

Kyle Spence dished out an incredible seven assists for Wingate, finally putting to bed the notion that an assist isn’t as good as a goal. It’s been a wild season for both teams in the Power Conference of the South in Division II, but Wingate emerged as a worthy winner in the end.

Adelphi def. Saint Anselm 13-12 (OT)

Rematch of the season for all of Northern Division II. Unlike some of the other Division II championships on Saturday, this game was crackling with energy from both squads. Each team had its respective run, with Saint A’s starting out with three goals. Adelphi answered with a four-goal run, and from then on, both teams traded goals in nearly equal measure. It looked like the two teams would head into halftime tied at 7, but Michael Durnin scored his third goal of the game with 18 seconds remaining to give the Panthers a slight lead. Colin Mulvey’s first-half hat trick paced the Hawks, but the fireworks of this game were not done being lit.

The second half was more of the same, as both squads went at each other tooth and talon, with the Hawks tying it on an EMO tally from Matt Lemay less than two minutes into the third quarter. Adelph answered with two goals, but the Hawks had their own two-goal run to end the period — including Mulvey’s fourth of the contest — to make it 10-10.

Adelphi dominated the first minutes of the fourth, eventually getting the first two goals to drop in their favor. The Hawks kept going at the Adelphi defense but struggled to get a quality shot past Dylan Renner. After Jo Lombardi got one past Saint A’s keeper Finn Granara with just over two minutes remaining, Saint Anselm went full pressure mode and eventually worked the ball around to Mulvey, who hit Chris Claflin for a clean look at the cage with two seconds left, tying the score at 12 to force overtime.

In overtime, the Hawks controlled the faceoff, called a timeout and got two clean looks at the cage, but Renner made the second stop on Matt Lemay and cleared the ball. Adelphi went with the flow, and Durnin cut through the heart of the defense and put home a feed from Ries Bower, who was doubled and on the turf, to score his sixth goal to send Adelphi to the NCAA tournament.

Maryville def. Lewis 9-8 (OT)

The conference playoffs are a great equalizer. These results were basically flipped in the regular season finales for all four of these teams, but when the chips were pushed into the middle, it had to be Lewis-v-Maryville. And both teams delivered.

Lewis held Maryville off the score sheet for nearly 25 minutes to start the game, during which time the Flyers built a 4-0 lead. But Maryville finally broke through late in the second quarter by erasing the four-goal deficit before the halftime horn with three goals in less than three minutes.

Back-to-back goals from Malikye Good put Lewis up by two with just over eight minutes to go. Again, Maryville fought back, getting a goal from Justin Simonson to tie it at 8 with under a minute left. The hero was Trent Zimay with four goals on the day, including the goal that won the game and ultimately the conference in overtime. Zimay entered the game with 13 goals on the year, never scoring more than two in a game. Hitting his season high in the title game is the type of timely scoring that propels teams to tournament wins.

Molloy def. Mercy 11-10 (OT)

Another matchup that was always meant to be. The regular-season meeting had an instant classic ending, as Mercy netminder Cameron Dorfman scored a full-field goalie goal to win it for Mercy in OT, securing the regular-season crown for the Mavericks. The regular-season win made it six straight regular-season ECC titles for Mercy, a veritable dynasty in the conference. Molloy, on the other hand, was making its first appearance in the ECC title game after being picked to finish fourth in the ECC.

Molloy started like it was shot from a cannon, taking a 3-0 lead in the first four-plus minutes. Molloy pushed its advantage to 6-1, but Mercy showed some life, scoring two quick goals; Ryan Smith had a hand in both. A four-goal run in the third tied the score at 7, and from there, it was a heavyweight slugfest.

The overtime period was about as chaotic as it was in the first meeting between the two. Ryan Resnick won the opening faceoff and exited toward his defensive end. Under pressure, he attempted to flip the ball toward his goalie. A ground ball battle ensued, and Dorfman came out of his cage to try and make a play with the ball. A well-timed check dislodged the ball, and it bounced to Luke Hickam, who scored on an open net from long range to win the game and secure Molloy’s first ECC title. These two seem to find it impossible to end a lacrosse game in a normal way.

TOP UPSETS

Georgian Court def. Wilmington 9-8

Four points each from Brodie Seaborn and Brett Bridges led the Georgian Court offense, but major credit is due to netminder Vincent Burkhart, who made 18 stops. Wilmington went through the regular season without dropping a conference game. The win is the third conference title for Georgian Court and its first since 2019.

Colorado Mesa def. Flagler 18-14

An absolutely wild first quarter saw both teams throw everything they had at one another offensively. Flagler went on a three-goal run; Colorado Mesa went on a four-goal run. Then both teams traded goals with Flagler eventually tying the score at 6 thanks to a goal from Tyler Douglass with 9 minutes left in the first half. Connor Jensen put Mesa back up with his second goal of the game just a minute later after a series of turnovers from both teams.

JJ Brummett added his second tally to extend the Mavericks’ lead to two goals, and that grew to four goals thanks to back-to-back strikes from Erich Peterson and Mike Edwards. Flagler kept shooting, but the goals just did not hit the back of the net. The first half ended 10-6 in favor of Colorado Mesa.

The Saints came out of the halftime tunnel swinging, dominating possession for the first few minutes of play, eventually getting two goals back on the board to make it 10-8. Douglass scored his fifth goal at the nine-minute mark of the third quarter to pull the Saints within one, but Colorado Mesa did not relent. A three-goal run from the Mavericks put them up 13-9 going into the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately for the Saints, it was more of the same, as Mesa kept up its scoring form with a three-goal run bookended by Flagler goals. But the Mavericks weren’t finished. Two more goals to close out the game were enough to down the Saints, who put up five goals of their own in the final stanza. Colorado Mesa is headed to its first NCAA tournament thanks to an 18-14 victory.