BOX SCORE
HIGHLIGHTS

When and Where: April 8, 2017 – Manchester, N.H. (Larkin Field)
Score: No. 8 Pace University 11, No. 15 Southern New Hampshire University 8
Records: SNHU 6-3 (4-3 Northeast-10 Conference), Pace 6-2 (4-2 Northeast-10 Conference)

Junior Corey Cairo (Wading River, N.Y.) scored six goals and added an assist Saturday, but No. 15 Southern New Hampshire University fell to No. 8 Pace University, 11-8, in Northeast-10 Conference men's lacrosse play at Larkin Field.

Senior Keifer Heckman (Peabody, Mass.) added a goal and an assist, and junior Chris West (Albany, N.Y.) accounted the eighth Penmen goal. Junior Zach Tanner (Woburn, Mass.) chipped in with a pair of helpers, while senior Tyler Walsh (Northampton, Mass.) stopped 13 shots.

Walsh's counterpart, Robert Beshlian, turned in a 21-save performance to backstop the Setters. Kevin Vogels registered a hat trick to lead the Pace attack, and Daniel Keenan and Joshua Kreitler scored a pair of goals apiece.

After neither side was able to generate any offense through the first 12 minutes of the opening quarter, Michael Pappalardo outmuscled a Penmen defender before found the back of the net with 3:03 remaining to stake the visitors to a 1-0 advantage.

Southern New Hampshire wasted little time in responding, as Heckman found Cairo 33 seconds later to even the score. Heckman took the ball from behind the Setters' cage and rolled to his left, and as the defense shifted with him, threw a pass back to Cairo on the opposite side of the crease. Cairo caught the pass, took one step to the front of the net and bounced a shot through Beshlian's legs to knot things up at one.

Vincent Vasheo broke the stalemate with 47 seconds to play in the first, and it sparked a four-goal Pace run that saw the Setters take a 5-1 lead with 10:31 left in the half. Cairo stopped the surge and brought the Penmen back to within three, as he grabbed a loose ball just outside the crease and again went five-hole at 12:26 to send the teams to the intermission with the score at 5-2.

Keenan's second of the afternoon reestablished Pace's four-goal cushion midway through the third, before Southern New Hampshire responded with just over two minutes to go in the stanza. Senior Zach Jacobs (Tewksbury, Mass.) drove down the right side and threaded a pass between three long-sticks to Cairo on the doorstep, and he quick-sticked the feed into an open goal to make it 6-3.

Back-to-back goals by Vogelsberg, one at 13:44 of the third and the second at 1:32 of the fourth, gave the Setters their largest lead of the day at 8-3. SNHU answered with two-straight scores of its own to cut the deficit back to three. Cairo outran a double-team behind the goal before flipping a pass over the cage to a wide-open West in front, who deposited his fourth of the year into the back of net with 13:07 to go. Less than two minutes later, Cairo took the ball from beneath the goal line on a restart and rolled the crease to his right. After his defender attempted to force him wide, Cairo spun back underneath his man and tucked a shot just inside the near post to move the Penmen back within striking distance.

It would be as close as Southern New Hampshire would come, as Pace answered with a three-goal burst to build an 11-5 advantage with 6:11 remaining in regulation. Back-to-back man-up goals by Cairo at 9:43 and 12:59 trimmed the Setters' edge to four, and Heckman's extra-man marker with 1:51 left made it a three-goal affair. However, a Penmen turnover followed by a penalty in the final 1:43 extinguished the comeback attempt.

Notes:
- Southern New Hampshire outshot Pace, 46-40, and held a 29-24 edge in shots on goal. The Penmen were whistled for 13 penalties compared to the seven Setters' infractions. Both sides converted on three of their man-up opportunities.
- Saturday marked the third loss of the season for Southern New Hampshire, and all three setbacks have come against teams ranked in the top-10 nationally.
- With two points on Saturday, Heckman moves into sole possession of No. 15 on the Penmen men's lacrosse all-time scoring list with 126 career points. Heckman has one or more points in 36 of his last 39 outings, and of those 36 games, he has at least two points in 32 contests.

What's Next:
The Penmen look to bounce back on Tuesday (April 11) when they continue Northeast-10 Conference play in Springfield, Massachusetts against American International College at 7 p.m.

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