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South Easton, Mass. – The Le Moyne College Dolphins and the Merrimack College Warriors will meet for the second time this season with the Northeast-10 Championship title on the line after coming away with semifinal victories Friday afternoon. The NE-10 Championship is set for 12 p.m. Sunday in Syracuse, N.Y. as the Dolphins will host the Warriors.

Top-seed and Northeast-10 regular season champion Le Moyne defeated fifth-seeded Saint Anselm College 16-2, while second-seeded Merrimack was victorious against third-seeded Bentley University 9-6 to advance to the finals.

Le Moyne jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead after the first period against Saint Anselm as the Dolphins went on to win 16-2. The Dolphins were led by sophomore Matt Chadderdon (Auburn, N.Y.) who scored a game-high five goals. Sophomore attack Jack Venditti (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) and senior midfielder Brian Welch (Ithaca, N.Y.) each scored two goals and dished out two assists in the win. Saint Anselm senior Chris Murphy (Winchester, Mass.) and sophomore Ryan Henry (Norwood, Mass.) each scored a goal for the Hawks. With the win, Le Moyne improves to 14-0, while Saint Anselm finishes the year 8-7.

In the other semifinal contest Merrimack scored three first period goals to take an early 3-1 lead over Bentley and didn’t look back as the Warriors were able to hold off the Falcons’ offensive attack to secure the 9-6 win. Junior Bryan MacPhie (Scarboro, Maine) scored a game high three goals to lead the way for the Warriors. SeniorGreg Rogowski (Cohoes, N.Y.), the NE-10 Player of the Year, scored his conference best 52nd goal of a year. Merrimack goalkeeper Cory Spinale (Wakefield, Mass.) made 16 saves between the pipes. Bentley juniors Kevin Gould (Duxbury, Mass.) and Brad Tunis (Sudbury, Mass.) each scored two goals apiece, while senior goalkeeper Kris Dambach (Chester, N.J.) recorded 12 saves. Merrimack improves to 14-1, while Bentley concludes the year 9-4.

This marks the fourth time that Le Moyne and Merrimack will face each other in the Northeast-10 Championship final. The Dolphins hold a 2-1 advantage over the Warriors in the finals after winning the 2006 championship, 10-3. Le Moyne has won seven of the last eight Northeast-10 Championship finals.

With 15 member institutions the Northeast-10 is the second largest NCAA Division II athletic conference in the nation. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.

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