NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's lacrosse team took a 9-6 lead into the half, but Saint Joseph's (Maine) made it interesting coming out of the gates in the second half scoring five straight goals. The Cadets were able to recover and regain the lead and seal the win in the fourth quarter, downing the Monks 14-12 Friday night on Sabine Field at Haynes Family Stadium.

Parker Campbell (Rockaway, N.J.) tallied seven points on a goal and six assists in the matchup. Payden Masaracchia (Enola, Pa.) had a team high four goals and one assist in the game. Callum Jones (Burlington, Ont.) scored three goals, including the game winning goal with 4:57 remaining in the fourth quarter, and dished out an assist. Jack Anzalone (Ridgewood, N.J.) also tallied three points in the game with a pair of goals and an assist.

Defensively the Cadets forced 10 turnovers, with Campbell and Joshua McQuinn (Milton, Vt.) each recording a pair. Thomas Muraski (Keller, Texas) won 22 of his 29 faceoff attempts while picking up eight ground balls for the Cadets. Both Andrew Vernon (Cheshire, Conn.) and Tommy Hopkins (Chelmsford, Mass.) recorded saves on 50 percent of the shots that they faced in the victory.

The Cadets started quickly, scoring in the opening 1:31 of play when Campbell found Jones in space, and Jones fired his shot into the back of the cage. Masaracchia then put his shot into the netting off a helper from Jones. Jack Haley (Falkville, Ala.) then got on the scoresheet with a goal 4:48 into the game as the Cadets took a 3-0 lead. The Monks' Timothy Goodfellow scored the first of his game high five points with 8:37 remaining in the opening frame to get on the scoreboard.

Norwich scored two straight goals, with 1:34 of play in between. The Monks scored another goal just under two minutes of play remaining in the first quarter, before Masaracchia struck again as time expired to take a 6-2 lead into the second.

The Cadets continued to score as Adam Sanchez (Selkirk, N.Y.) scored his second career goal, and Tyler Seidel (Centreville, Md.) entered the scoresheet shortly after. After a pair of goals by the Monks, cut the Norwich lead to four, Anzalone then scored with help from Seidel to take a 9-4 lead.  The Monks scored twice before the half to go into the break down three.

Coming out of the halftime break, Saint Joseph's rattled off five straight goals over the opening 9:10 of play.  The Cadets finally broke up the momentum with Masaracchia's fourth goal of the matchup. A goal in the final minutes gave St. Joe's a 12-10 lead entering the final frame.

In the fourth quarter it was all Norwich as the Cadets scored four unanswered including a goal by Campbell with 1:50 into the quarter to even things up.  After 8:13 of playing tied at 12-12, Jones scored the game winner with 4:57 remaining and Jake Andrews-Pestana (Napa, Calif.) put in an insurance goal with 3:29 on the clock to seal the victory.

Norwich (16-1, 10-0 GNAC) will host the winner of the No. 5 Johnson & Wales/ No. 4 Dean in a GNAC semifinal matchup.  The semifinals are currently scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 4 at a time to be decided.