Northfield, Vt. – Maine Maritime men's lacrosse fell to Norwich University, 20-12 in the first round of the NCAA DIII Men's Lacrosse Tournament.

How it Happened: After a scoreless three minutes to start the game, Owen Hansen (Bennington, Vt.) found Jacob Belanger (Brunswick, Maine) for a goal to put the Mariners on the board. The Cadets answered with eight consecutive goals, before Sam Nichol (Concord, N.H.) ended their run with an unassisted goal to make the score 8-2 in favor of Norwich. The Cadets scored again before the Mariners scored back-to-back goals from Belanger, assisted by Jayden Wilson (Lewiston, Maine) and Brendan Reddington (Wallingford, Conn.), assisted by Alex Snowman (Sarasota, Fla.). Norwich scored one more time in the half as the Mariners ended the second quarter with unassisted goals from Noah Caramihalis (York, Maine) and Zeke Tocci (Naples, Maine) to make the score 10-6 in favor of Norwich.

The Mariners started of the second half with a goal from Wilson, assisted by Tocci to cut the Cadets lead to three. Norwich answered with four straight goals, before the Mariners scored three consecutive goals, two from Tocci and one from Hansen, to make the score 14-10. The Cadets ended the third quarter with a goal to extend their lead to five going into the final quarter of the game. The Mariners struck first in the fourth quarter when Hansen found Wilson for a goal. Norwich answered with four goals, before Tocci scored the Mariners last goal of the afternoon. The Cadets would score one more goal on their way to a 20-12 win.

Inside the Numbers: Tocci led the Mariners with four goals and one assist, along with three ground balls and one caused turnovers. Wilson added two goals and two assists, while Belanger chipped in two goals. Jed Astbury (Bridgewater, Vt.) picked up a team-high four ground balls and Chandler Coombs (Brunswick, Maine) caused a team-high two turnovers.

Andrew King (Towson, Md.) tallied 14 saves in 52 minutes in net for the Mariners, while Ben Elliott (Windham, Maine) recorded three in eight minutes. Andrew Vernon tallied five saves for the Cadets.

Norwich held a 56-25 advantage in shots and a 50-33 advantage in ground balls over the Mariners.