Division II Men's Recap: Every Lower Seed Wins in Round 1 of NCAA Tournament

The opening round of the Division II men’s NCAA tournament wasn’t short on drama.

Each of the four contests Wednesday was decided by one goal — and each lower seed won — setting up an anticipated quarterfinal round to be played on Sunday. All four quarterfinals are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Eastern.

(5) ADELPHI 9, (4) BENTLEY 8

Bentley’s historic season is over, as Adelphi avenged a three-goal loss from just seven days ago to down the Falcons 9-8. Adelphi led 9-4 on Dylan Barry’s goal with 8:48 left in the game, but the upstart Falcons pushed the Panthers to the brink by scoring the game’s final four goals.

Luke Jaber’s tally with 1:25 left made for the final score. Bentley won the ensuing faceoff, but Nick Paris caused a turnover and Frank Falco picked it up, allowing Adelphi to clear and kill the rest of the clock.

Joseph Duchnowski had three goals and one assist for Adelphi, which advances to face Le Moyne on Sunday. Nathan Alviti had a game-high six points (three goals, three assists) for Bentley, which made the NCAA tournament for the first time in its 31-year history.

(6) SAINT ANSELM 17, (3) MERCY 16

Jack Andrews’ 36th goal of the spring (and seventh goal of the game) came with 1:47 left in the fourth quarter on an assist from Noah Larsen and saved Saint Anselm’s season, as the Hawks came back to defeat Mercy 17-16.

Down 15-14 after Mercy’s Jack Gibbons assisted Brady Kearnan with 7:55 left, Joe Lombardi and Andrews scored 66 seconds apart to shift the one-goal lead to the Hawks. Damiano Ferrera then knotted the score at 16 with 5:46 left.

Andrews’ winner was hardly the end of the action. Saint Anselm picked up an extra-man opportunity after Jack Kipnes was called for a cross check with 37 seconds left, but Gerdvil caused a turnover, giving Mercy possession with 13 seconds left. With a chance to tie it and send the game to overtime, Devon Duchnowski missed wide.

Saint Anselm will take on Mercyhurst in the quarterfinals.

(5) LENOIR-RHYNE 10, (4) TAMPA 9

Facing a two-goal deficit with 12:53 left after Owen Miller broke a tie at 7 with two consecutive scores for Tampa, Lenoir-Rhyne settled in. Evan Voss scored a man-up goal to go down one, then Tommy Aguilar netted the tying goal (assisted by Riley Seay) and the winning goal (assisted by Will Canata) in Lenoir-Rhyne’s 10-9 comeback win.

In the game of runs, the Bears led 4-1, then allowed Tampa to score six straight. Down 7-4, Lenoir-Rhyne scored the next three. That set up Miller’s two-goal spurt for a 9-7 Tampa lead.

Toron Eccleston scored three times for the Bears, who will play Rollins on Sunday in the quarterfinals. Aguilar scored twice on six shots — but those early misses were certainly worth it for him to drop the two most crucial goals of LRU’s season.

Rob Pensabene made three of his 15 saves after Aguilar’s go-ahead goal with 5:44 left in the game.

(6) UINDY 11, (3) WINGATE 10

Wingate’s two-headed monster of Danny Riley and Willie Grieco tried to will a Wingate comeback with under 2:30 left, but UIndy made sure they fell just shy. Riley hit a post with 52 seconds left, and Sam Arfsten got the ground ball for UIndy to clear, killing enough time for the Greyhounds to complete an 11-10 upset.

As close as the game was, UIndy never relinquished the lead after Owain Braddock scored with 6:51 left in the third quarter for a 7-6 lead.

Triston Schaffer scored four times for UIndy, while Wyatt Auyer and Braddock each scored twice. Josh Jackson scored four turnovers and had eight ground balls. KC Carlson made 10 saves for the Greyhounds, who draw Limestone in the quarterfinals.