BOX SCORE

WALTHAM, Mass. - Third-seeded Bentley University eliminated sixth-seeded Southern New Hampshire University from the 2009 Northeast-10 Men's Lacrosse Championship with a 13-5 win in a first round game Tuesday night.  The Falcons, who are ranked seventh nationally, improve to 9-3 and advance to face second-seeded Merrimack Friday.  The Penmen see their season come to a close at 4-10 overall.

Bentley was led by Andy Curtis, who notched three goals and an assist, while Wyatt Couture also scored three times.  Andrew Brown (Marshfield, MA) paced Southern New Hampshire with three goals, while Mike Ball (Salem, NH) finished with a goal and two assists.  Keith Merluzzo (Billerica, MA) had the other Penmen tally.

Southern New Hampshire would take a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the game as Brown scored off a feed from Ball with 14:09 left in the first quarter.  The Falcons would score the final four goals of the first quarter and a Kevin Gould man-advantage goal with 28 seconds left made it 4-1 after one quarter.  Bentley outscored SNHU 3-1 in the second to take a 7-2 halftime lead.

Ball and Brown would score the first two goals of the second half to pull the Penmen within three, 7-4, with 7:14 left in the third quarter.  Bentley responded with two third quarter goals of its own, then scored 5:51 into the fourth to make it 10-4.  The Falcons would score the game's final three goals to seal the win.

Kris Dembach made 12 saves in the win for Bentley, as the Falcons generated a 46-25 shot advantage.  Brendan O'Brien (Hopkinton, MA) made 18 saves for Southern New Hampshire.

SNHU was making its first Northeast-10 Tournament appearance since 2006.