FINAL SCORE
#2 Monmouth 12 (8-2) 
#1 Manhattan 9 (5-5)

RIVERDALE, NY - The Monmouth University men's lacrosse team captured the 2021 MAAC Men's Lacrosse Tournament Championship with a convincing 14-9 victory over Manhattan on Saturday afternoon at Gaelic Park.  

The tournament crown for Monmouth is its second in program history (2017) and the Hawks earn the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.   

After going down 3-1 early in the second quarter, Monmouth responded with a six-goal outburst in the period and never trailed from that point on. Eight different Hawks scored in the win, including Cade Stratton with a hat trick, Matt Soutar won 20-of-27 faceoffs and Noah Lode made 10 saves in goal. 

Soutar was named the MAAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, while Stratton, Chris Hervada and Lode were voted to the All-Tournament Team.  

NOTES & QUOTES
"These guys endured so much this year, just to get to gameday and to play games and to win as many as we did, and win a championship today, it sure feels good. I am so happy and proud of the guys for what we accomplished and that we have earned another week together as a team."
- Head Coach Brian Fisher 

"We had a good second quarter. When we settled down and started to play our way, we found success. It still takes guys making plays in championship games, I think we had a balanced attack again, a lot of different guys scored, Noah Lode played great, our defense and all four of our defensive midfielders have been so solid all year, it truly feels like a team effort."
- Fisher on the six-goal second quarter

"It's an amazing feeling to win the MAAC Championship. All season long we kind of felt like this was our year, we had a lot of great fifth-year seniors come back with so much talent and great leadership with all of our captains coming back. We made a great run, the offense really turned it on the past few games and we knew this was our shot to win a championship."
- Sophomore midfielder Matt Soutar

- Monmouth won its second MAAC Championship in program history (2017).
- Matt Soutar was named MAAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
- Cade Stratton, Chris Hervada and Noah Lode were named to the All-Tournament Team.
- The Hawks improved to 8-2 on the year, their best 10 game start in program history. 
- The Hawks are now 2-2 on the road in 2021.
- Monmouth improved to 5-3 all-time in the MAAC Tournament and 3-2 away from home.
- The Hawks wore their white helmets with midnight blue jerseys and white shorts.
- Monmouth leads the all-time series with Manhattan, 7-2.
- The game was the first postseason meeting between the two sides.
 
NUMBERS CRUNCH
- Matt Soutar went 20-of-27 at the faceoff X, the second 20-win performance of his career. Soutar also led the team and equaled his own program record with 10 ground balls.
- Noah Lode made 10 saves in goal for Monmouth.
- Cade Stratton had his second six-point game of the season with a hat trick and three assists. 
- Stratton had 13 points and eight goals in the three MAAC Tournament games and he leads Monmouth with 29 points on the year (17 G, 12 A).
- Stratton increased his career totals to 54 points on 32 goals and 22 assists. His 22 assists rank sixth in team history after he passed Dan Bloodgood '18 on the all-time list.
- Zach Clemente, Dwayne Mattushik and Brock Anderson each scored twice in the win.
- Clemente has 12 goals this year and 41 for his career and he became the ninth player in school history to eclipse the 40-goal mark.
- Mattushik has 11 goals this season and Anderson has five in 2021 and 27 for his career.
- Chris Hervada, Connor Macrae, David Cormack, Max Brooks and Mike McIntyre each put in one goal.
 - Brooks extended his point streak to 11 games and he now has 19 points this season (12 G, 7 A) and 38 for his career (23 G, 15 A).
- Macrae is second on the team in scoring in 2021 after putting in his 13th goal of the year.
- Cormack has six goals and eight assists this year and 15 goals and 10 assists for his career. 
- McIntyre's goal was his eighth of the year and the 15th of his career.
- Hervada's goal was the first of his career.
- Conor Tuturice led Monmouth with two caused turnovers.

UP NEXT
Monmouth will find out its NCAA Tournament opponent on Sunday evening during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on ESPNU at 9 p.m. ET.