Men's Lacrosse Wins Big in America East Semifinal
- 15 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Carter Schum | May 4, 2026
On Thursday, April 30th, The University at Albany men’s lacrosse team bested the UMBC Retrievers by a score of 14-3 in the America East Men’s Lacrosse tournament semifinals.
“That was one of the best defensive performances I’ve seen in a long time,” said Head Coach Scott Marr.
Daniel Kesselring got the scoring started early for the Great Danes, as just 56 seconds in, he used the turf to beat Retriever goaltender Connor McMahon and make the score 1-0.
Following a several minute scoring drought on both sides, Ryan Doherty scored a goal off of a feed from Silas Richmond to make the score 2-0 with 8:24 left to play in the first quarter.
The Retrievers got a man-up opportunity with 6:59 remaining when Justin Lee committed a push in front of UAlbany Goalie Brady Smith, however this was killed off.
The Great Danes had a man up with 3:55 remaining in the first quarter after Dylan Hendrix got flagged for interference, but the Retrievers successfully killed off the penalty.
Doherty got his second in a row with under two minutes left in the first quarter to extend the lead to 3-0.
Great Dane defender Max Neeson was flagged for an illegal body check off of the ensuing faceoff, however the UAlbany defense stood tall and the first quarter ended shortly after the end of the penalty.
The first few minutes of the second quarter also saw a scoring drought of several minutes, as both defenses executed at a high level and allowed very few scoring chances.
The Great Danes went back on the man-up with 9:35 remaining in the second quarter, and this time they cashed in as Koleton Marquis finished in close off of a feed from Silas Richmond to bring the advantage to 4-0.
Ryan Doherty got on the scoresheet again at the 6:56 mark in impressive fashion: after firing a shot that was blocked by a UMBC defender, he grabbed his own rebound and fired another past McMahon to increase the UAlbany lead to 5-0.
The Great Danes scored again at the 4:13 mark, as Brendan O’Keffe fired a shot into the bottom left corner of the goal to bring the lead to 6-0.
Ryan Doherty scored his fourth goal of the game 57 seconds later, as he deposited an incredible one handed pass from Koleton Marquis to expand the lead to 7-0.
UMBC got a man-up chance with under a minute left in the second quarter as Silas Richmond was flagged for a slash. However, the first half ended before the Retrievers could get a shot off, as UAlbany pitched a first half shutout.
The Retrievers had several chances to get on the board in the opening minutes of the third quarter, however Brady Smith made several key saves to keep UMBC off the board.
Kevin Carney was able to score his first of the game and the first goal of the third quarter with 11:52 left to play in the third quarter as the lead swelled to 8-0.
UAlbany found the back of the net once again 70 seconds later, when Alex Pfeiffer scored his first of the game to make it a 9-0 game.
UMBC got on the board with 6:03 left in the third quarter as Connor Chick scored a goal from in close to make the score 9-1.
Brendan O’Keffe got the goal back for the Great Danes at the 4:34 mark of the third quarter to bring the score to 10-1.
O’Keffe scored his second of the game just over 90 seconds later, as he finished in front of the net off of a bullet pass from Jackson Palumb to give the Great Danes an 11-1 lead.
The Retrievers threatened to score in the dying seconds of the third stanza, but were unsuccessful, as the crowd rose to their feet in celebration.
The fourth quarter's first goal was scored by UMBC, as Xander Maxwell beat Brady Smith to make it an 11-2 game with just under 10 minutes remaining.
Jackson Palumb scored his first of the game with 8:29 remaining in the fourth quarter to bring the lead back to 12-2.
Brandon Barnard got in on the action with 4:42 left to play in the game when he fired a rocket shot left handed to bring the lead to 13-2.
Nick Gutierrez scored UMBC’s third of the game less than a minute later to make it a 13-3 game.
Koleton Marquis scored one final goal in the dying seconds of the game to close out a decisive 14-3 victory.
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