The regular season for Marist men’s lacrosse has ended, and the playoffs are set to begin. Marist (7-7, 5-3 MAAC) is the No. 4 seed and is set to host No. 5 Manhattan (6-8, 4-4 MAAC) on Sunday, April 27 at 4 p.m.
The other opening round matchup features No. 3 Canisius (6-9, 6-2 MAAC) hosting No. 6 Quinnipiac (2-11, 2-6).
Marist comes in after a massive loss to Siena (9-4, 7-1 MAAC) to close the regular season. Siena, the No. 2 seed, sits on a seven-game win streak and is tied for the regular season title with Sacred Heart (11-2, 7-1).
“Guys got right to work… that’s all we can do knowing tomorrow’s not guaranteed at this time of year,” said Marist head coach Dave Scarcello about the state of his team heading into the playoffs after the loss.
Sacred Heart, the top seed, beat Siena this year and thus owns the tiebreaker, which means the Pioneers host the semi-finals and championship of the playoffs. Both Siena and Sacred Heart earned first-round byes.
Chaos for the six-seed:
Quinnipiac won the three-team tiebreaker over Merrimack and Mount St.Mary’s, barely earning the No. 6 seed and last playoff bid. Merrimack beat Quinnipiac 10-9 in overtime on the last day of the season, but the Bobcats took the last spot through other results.
All three teams finished 2-6 on the year and 1-1 against each other, pushing it to multiple levels of tiebreaker. All three teams lost to Sacred Heart, Siena and Canisius, but only Quinnipiac beat Marist, which gave them the advantage.
(4) Marist vs (5) Manhattan
Manhattan gets another chance to take down Marist on the road in this first-round contest. Marist beat the Jaspers 14-10 on the Red Foxes’ senior night behind five points from sophomore midfielder Sean Mullan.
Marist enters the playoffs with a bit of a goalie problem. Three different keepers played against Siena, although freshman Adam Wacholder made all but one start (senior Noble Smith started senior night) in conference play.
“Just needed to shake things up, see if we could spark something for the defense,” said Scarcello.
Sophomore attacker Collin Patrick has lit up the stat sheet for Marist, scoring 30 goals and assisting another 23. He’s been towards the top of Division I in points per game nearly all year, currently at just under four per game.
“He’s been the quarterback of the offense all year, heading into playoffs, we’re gonna need him to play his best ball,” said Scarcello.
Senior faceoff specialist Dylan Bedell enters the playoffs in the top 12 of faceoff %, winning nearly 62% of his faceoffs.
Marist is shooting the ball 44 times per game, putting 16.5 a match of those on target. Faceoffs are a strong spot for the Red Foxes (.579%). Marist also has 79 unassisted goals of their 148, which equates to just over half.
Sophomore Michael Cassanno earned the MAAC Long-Stick Midfielder of the Year in 2025. Cassanno has forced 12 turnovers and grabbed 35 ground balls for Marist without giving the ball away once.
Scarcello is in his first year at the helm of the Marist program after playing at Marist and being an assistant coach for the last seven years. He’s been a part of all three MAAC championships won by Marist, but this is his first year in a different role.
“We’ve seen it all in terms of all the scenarios we could see… we’ve experienced it all,” said Scarcello. “We know what it takes to get it done and we know what our shortcomings are,”
13 Red Foxes are on the roster from 2023, the last time Marist won the MAAC.
”Knowing that they’ve been in these situations before, we’re expecting a lot out of our upperclassmen,” said Scarcello. “Having that championship experience is certainly something that serves us well.”
Manhattan lost to Sacred Heart to close out their year, but still ended up with the No. 5 after going 4-4 in the MAAC. The Jaspers have one win in their last five games. Manhattan is 3-6 on the road this year, including four straight losses when playing away from home.
Senior midfielder Kelly DuPree is Manhattan’s leading scorer, putting up 23 goals and 10 assists. Sophomore attacker Drew Hiner and senior midfielder Connor Engel each have 27 points.
Graduate student goalie Connor Hapward, the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, is conceding 10.24 goals per game in net while making 191 saves over 14 games. Hapwards’ saves per game number (13.71) is good for sixth in the nation.
Manhattan is getting outshot by nearly nine shots per game, putting up way fewer attempts. The Jaspers are giving up more extra-man goals despite having more opportunities, and are winning just 40% of their faceoffs.
(3) Canisius vs (6) Quinnipiac
The winner of Canisius and Quinnipiac takes on Siena in the semi-finals on Thursday, May 1. That game will take place on Sacred Heart’s campus, with Canisius looking to exact revenge on the Saints with back-to-back wins.
Canisius took down Quinnipiac 10-9 earlier this year when the Griffins travelled to Connecticut to hand Quinnipiac their first MAAC loss of the year. Senior goalie Mason Oak saved 11 shots, but sophomore midfielder Jordan Reed scored three and assisted two more.
Reed has 14 goals and eight assists this season, second on the Canisius roster, which has a very balanced attack. Senior midfielder Jaxon Fridge has eight goals and 17 assists himself to lead Canisius.
Sophomore attacker Nate Watson and junior attacker Justin Robbert led the Bobcats’ offense with 36 points each. Oak has been their stalwart in goal, conceding 13.27 goals per game and making 164 saves over 12 starts.
Canisius is scoring under nine goals per game while conceding over 10 and getting outshot. The Golden Griffins make up for it by winning a lot of faceoffs and ground balls, 267 faceoffs and 451 ground balls, respectively.
Quinnipiac’s offense has been significantly worse, with just five of its 114 (8.76 per game) goals coming on the power play. They shoot significantly less per game than their opponents – Oak gets a lot of work – and they commit a lot of penalties (64).
The home side is flipped for this first-round matchup, which opens the playoffs at noon on Sunday, April 27.
No. 1 Seed – Sacred Heart
The Sacred Heart Pioneers have been dominant in 2025. They currently sit at 11-2 on the year, 7-1 in the MAAC and are on a seven-game win streak, all while going 6-0 at home.
The Pioneers were ranked 16th on Inside Lacrosse’s Latest Poll, and took Fairfield, who’ve been ranked multiple times and are a serious contender in the CAA, to double overtime, where they lost 12-13.
Canisius handed Sacred Heart their only MAAC loss in each team’s conference opener. Canisius, behind hat tricks from senior midfielder Patrick Mitchell and senior attacker TJ Bueno, took care of the Pioneers at home by a score of 10-8.
Sacred Heart scores a dozen goals per game, limits its opponents to just over eight, and puts up nearly 45 shots a contest. Despite converting just .188 of its extra-man, the Pioneers control the games. They win 54% of their faceoffs and clear the ball 88% of the time.
Graduate student goalkeeper Alex Pazienza has been their lockdown keeper, giving up just 8.28 goals per game while making 142 saves in 13 games. Graduate student midfielder Tucker Spencer has converted on the other end, scoring 33 goals in 11 games. Senior attacker Jake Ward matched Spencer’s point total of 38, with Ward’s total from 13 goals and 25 assists.
Sacred Heart awaits the lowest remaining seed after the first round, hosting its semifinal on Thursday, May 1 at 3 p.m. Manhattan fell to Sacred Heart 11-7 on the last day of the season, behind a hat trick for junior midfielder John Murray and 11 saves for Pazienza. Quinnipiac also fell to the Pioneers, losing 12-7 in Hamden, Connecticut.
Marist took the Pioneers to overtime, although it could have easily been a win for the Red Foxes. Sophomore midfielder Tim Kiely scored a goal to tie it at 12-12 with eight seconds left in regulation, and Murray won it with two seconds left in the first overtime period.
No. 2 Seed – Siena
The Siena Saints (9-4, 7-1 MAAC) come in almost as hot as Sacred Heart. They have won seven straight games and are among the teams that received votes in the latest national rankings poll.
They just defeated Marist 24-9 to end the year after putting 16 up at Canisius the weekend before. Siena’s only loss since March 5 came against Sacred Heart in OT.
Siena led 6-1 at halftime, but a massive comeback from the Pioneers was finished off by Murray’s overtime winner. That matchup of the future top-two-seeds provided plenty of entertainment, and it could easily happen again.
Senior attacker Pratt Reynolds and junior attacker Travis Fry scored five for the Saints in the win over Marist, who were left in the dust by the Saints.
Reynolds was named MAAC Offensive Player of the Year for his contributions this season, which include 48 goals and three assists over 13 games. His average of under four goals per game has him at third in the national rankings.
“They played an outstanding game and shot the ball incredibly well; we did not get off the bus,” said Scarcello. “They out-executed us in every facet of the game.”
Siena is 5-3 on the road this year, which is impactful because they no longer have a home game. Their semifinal matchup, where they await the highest of the remaining seeds, will be played at Sacred Heart at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 1.
Through 13 games, the Saints have scored 184 goals, which is just over 14 per game. Their goals allowed per game number sits below double digits, as Siena has run through nearly all of the MAAC this year.
They convert on 35% of their extra-man opportunities, force over nine turnovers per game and have an excellent face-off man. Freshman Logan Banek currently sits 4th in Division I in faceoff winning percentage, sitting at 65%.
Banek, the MAAC Rookie of the Year and MAAC faceoff specialist of the year, has had an insanely dominant opening campaign. Siena’s head coach, Liam Gleason, won MAAC Coach of the Year for his team’s performance.
Senior attacker Ryan McCarthy is also third on the leaderboard, with the senior attacker dishing out 2.92 assists per game.
Graduate student goalie Andrew Arcuri has been lights-out in net for the Saints, giving up under 10 goals per game and making 155 saves over 13 starts. Anyone who runs into this Siena team is facing a buzzsaw.
Edited by Marley Pope
Photo by Kira Crutcher
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