Overtime was the theme on Championship Saturday with three conference titles games requiring extra time. It started off early in morning with Canisius stunning Detroit Mercy in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference final and kept on rolling with the Northeast Conference and Southern Conference finals playing overtime simultaneously.
Here's a recap of a great day of lacrosse.
Robert Morris Earns First NCAA Bid
Tyson Gibson sent Robert Morris to its first NCAA tournament, scoring with 19 seconds left in the first overtime period to give the Colonials a 9-8 win over St. Joseph's in the Northeast Conference final.
St. Joe's used three separate three-goal runs to take a 6-3 halftime lead, but Robert Morris outscored the Hawks 5-0 in the third quarter, taking an 8-6 lead into the final quarter. The score remained that way as the clock ticked under five minutes to play, but St. Joe's Kyle Cain scored back-to-back goals, the last coming with 15 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Matt Schmidt led Robert Morris with three goals and two assists and Gibson and Ryan Smith each scored twice. The Colonials head to the NCAA tournament with a 12-4 record, including a win over Penn State.
Cain scored four times for St. Joe's.
Canisius Wins MAAC on Crazy Ending
Canisius won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in dramatic fashion, as Mathieu Boissonneault intercepted a pass off the faceoff and scored on an empty net to give the Griffs a 10-9 overtime win against Detroit Mercy.
It was the fifth one-goal victory of the season for Canisius (8-8), which is headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012.
"It's a little surreal right now, the fact that it happened," said first-year Canisius head coach Mark Miyashita. "All the hard work these guys put in, this is the payoff. We talked about the first step, which was qualifying for the MAAC Championship. The second step was winning the semifinal game and we said that if we did that, then we would worry about that third step on gameday. The guys really battled together today. It's an amazing feeling."
Connor Kearnan, who was named the MAAC tournament MVP, scored the game-tying goal with 38 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. Kearnan had two goals and two assists today and Carter Stefaniak led the Golden Griffs with four goals.
Richmond Rallies for First Southern Conference Title
Trailing by two goals with under four minutes to play, Richmond forced overtime on consecutive goals by Ryan Lee and then won the Southern Conference championship, beating Jacksonville 11-10 on Teddy Hatfield's goal with 1:32 to play in the first overtime period.
It was the sixth straight win for the Spiders, who will be heading to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014.
"It's an indescribable feeling," said Richmond head coach Dan Chemotti. "I am so happy for our guys for never giving in today and battling back. There was no panic in our team today and it was a remarkable performance to win the championship in front of our crowd."
Richmond capitalized on home field advantage to help power its run to the Southern Conference championship. The Spiders scored the final three goals of the game to beat Jacksonville 11-10 in overtime.
Lee had three goals and four assists, giving him 12 points in two tournament games, for the Spiders and Mitch Savoca had a hat trick. Richmond goalie Blake Goodman made 11 saves, including a point blank save at the end of regulation to send the game to overtime.
Will Hendrick paced Jacksonville with three goals and an assist and Hunter Forbes won 16-of-25 faceoffs.