LOUDONVILLE – The Siena men’s lacrosse team won’t be home next week. The way the Saints are playing right now, it might not matter.
Siena demolished Marist 24-9 in Wednesday’s regular-season finale at Hickey Field. Tying for the second-most goals in a match in program history, the Saints will take a seven-game winning streak into the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference semifinals at Sacred Heart in Fairfield, Conn.
“When our team is firing, no one can compete with us,” said Siena senior attack Pratt Reynolds, who had five goals.
Siena (9-4 overall, 7-1 MAAC) earned a share of its first MAAC regular-season title since 2014, also the most recent time the Saints won the league championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s a great accolade for our team,” said junior attack Travis Fry, who also had five goals. “It shows how much work we put in every day. We’re a really tight group. I think that plays a major role in our success. But we have our eyes on a bigger prize at the end of the season.”
Second-seeded Siena will play next Thursday in a semifinal in Fairfield against a first-round winner to be determined. The final is May 3.
No. 1 seed Sacred Heart (11-2, 7-1) gets to host the league championship because of its 11-10 victory over Siena on March 15 in Fairfield.
But the Saints haven’t lost since, with every game decided by at least four goals. Wednesday’s game got out of hand quickly. Siena and Marist (7-7, 5-3) were tied 5-5 before the Saints ran off 13 of the next 14 goals.
They led 16-6 at halftime and 20-8 after three quarters. Their 24 goals fell shy of the program record of 26 established twice, against Hartwick in 1979 and Clarkson in 1981.
“I have confidence our offense can score big numbers, but to think we were going to put up 24? No, I didn’t expect that,” Siena coach Liam Gleason said. “I did think our defense could hold them to single digits, so I’m proud of their effort there, But, yeah, it was an awesome day. Guys came out sharing the ball and they didn’t see many shots they couldn’t hit.”
It was a thorough dismantling of a Marist team that beat Siena nine straight times before the Saints knocked off the Red Foxes in a MAAC first-round match last year in Poughkeepsie.
“I looked at my phone at halftime, and alumni were texting us mid-game,” Reynolds said. “It felt amazing to be able to beat them, especially a team like that, where we’re rivals throughout the entire school.”
Fry scored his career-high five goals on five shots, all in the first half. Though his final three were unassisted, he said it was a team effort.
Nine Siena players had at least one assist, led by two each from Ryan McCarthy and Patrick Radomski, who also had a hat trick.
“I think our experience really showed today,” Fry said. “We have a lot of chemistry with each other and I can credit a lot of my goals to my teammates finding me open.”
Siena senior attack Conor Hufnagel added four goals.
In 2022, Reynolds joined a program that went 0-8 and missed the MAAC playoffs the year before. The Saints have qualified for four straight years during his career.
“For me and my class, it means a lot,” Reynolds said. “To be able to continue to keep growing is great. I can’t thank Coach Gleason and the coaches enough for what they’ve done for us to prepare us for this moment, but it’s exciting. I can’t wait.”
It wasn’t necessarily Reynolds’ final home match. If Siena can win the MAAC championship, the Saints could be in position to host an NCAA Tournament opening-round game at Hickey Field.
