SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Bentley University men's lacrosse team scored all six goals of the fourth quarter as the Falcons downed AIC 12-5 Wednesday afternoon to clinch a spot in the Northeast-10 playoffs.

The Falcons actually scored seven unanswered goals starting in the third quarter, as sophomore Jordan Reals (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua Academy) broke a five-all tie with 4:55 left in the third quarter to give Bentley the lead.

Bentley then began to pull away early in the fourth, as sophomore Nick Astarita (Bedford, N.H./Bishop Guertin) and senior J.D. Ayer (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) scored in the first four minutes to give them an 8-5 lead. Junior Steve Caditz (Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island) scored his second of the game at the 9:16 mark, and after freshman Mike Carter (Walpole, Mass./Thayer Academy) found the back of the net, Caditz completed his hat trick with 4:11 remaining to make the score 11-5.

But before the Falcons pulled away in the fourth, the game was close the whole way. AIC led 2-0 after the first quarter, but Bentley struck five times in the second quarter, from five different players. The Yellow Jackets however, stayed in it with goals from Matt Cassidy and Nick Amendt to trail only 5-4 at halftime.

Junior goalie Josh Baker (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) came on in the second quarter and made six total saves to earn his second straight win.

Bentley, which is now in the NE-10 playoffs for a fifth straight year and 11^th time in 12 years, closes out the regular season at No. 5 Adelphi on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.