HAMDEN, Conn. – The Quinnipiac men’s lacrosse team started and ended its day in celebration with a 19-13 victory over LIU on senior day Saturday. With the win, the Bobcats finished the regular season 7-6, clinching a spot in the MAAC Tournament.  

“We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs in the last four years,” senior attacker John DeLucia said. “It’s been a long ride and it’s great that it’s all coming together now.” 

As the first quarter began, it was clear that both teams were going to trade shots all afternoon. The Sharks got on the board first with a bouncing shot from junior midfielder James Butler. Quinnipiac answered less than a minute later when junior midfielder Evan Perry scored an unassisted goal, scrambling to create a window in front of the cage. 

LIU built on its lead throughout the first quarter, with the Bobcats never far behind. Quinnipiac struggled to hit the net, with most of its shots flying past Sharks junior goalie Sean Gillman. 

“Offensively we were getting the takes we wanted,” head coach Mason Poli said. “We weren’t hitting the cage, and a few sailed on us.” 

As the second quarter began, the Bobcats settled down on offense, with junior attacker Dylan Donnery scoring his first of five goals on the day. Despite capitalizing on offense, Quinnipiac committed three costly penalties and on two of those,  LIU used the man-advantage to create a pair of goals. 

The Bobcats started to turn the tide of the game in the final 30 seconds of the second quarter. Following a timeout, junior midfielder Steven Germain sniped one past Gillman. Just 20 seconds later freshman attacker Justin Robbert found the back of the net to send the teams into their locker rooms knotted at eight. 

“Something we’ve been working on all year is handling momentum,” DeLucia said. “Once we got a couple things to go our way we didn’t sit back, and I think it really helped us today.” 

Quinnipiac came out of the locker room on fire, scoring five unanswered goals in just over three minutes. Two of those goals came from the stick of senior attacker Jake Tellers, and another from senior midfielder Ryan Schwender. The goal was Schwender’s first collegiate point, coming in his last regular season game. 

“It was definitely exciting for sure,” Schwender said. “My housemate (John) DeLucia actually was the one who assisted, definitely a memory we’ll have forever.” 

The Bobcats certainly gave the senior day crowd something to cheer about in the second half as the offensive explosion continued. Tellers, Germain and Robbert all finished the day with a hat trick, and Donnery and DeLucia tallied six total points on the day.

“We were really just locked in as the game went on,” Poli said. “We were able to take advantage in transition and bury a lot of opportunities.” 

Saturday’s 19-goal explosion was Quinnipiac’s second highest on the year, only trailing its 21-goal performance in the first game of the year back on February 11. 

With the win, the Bobcats finished the season 5-4 in MAAC play, setting up a first round matchup with Siena. 

“We consistently have to earn it,” Poli said. “We’ve got to show up on Monday and be ready to earn the next one as well.”