WALTHAM, Mass. – In a battle between two top-12 teams, 10th-ranked Saint Michael's came away with a 5-3 win over 12th-ranked Bentley University in Northeast-10 men's lacrosse Wednesday night.

After a scoreless first half where each goalie, Bentley's Mike O'Neil (Marblehead, Mass./Marblehead) and Saint Michael's Chris Demario made seven saves, sophomore Steve Caditz (Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island) finally broke the ice at the 9:46 mark of the third.

After Caditz's goal though, the Purple Knights went on a 4-0 run that was bookended by goals from sophomore attack Pete Donnally. His first goal came just over a minute after Caditz's, and sophomore Marty Vanzo gave them a 2-1 lead at the 4:50 mark.

They scored twice in a 42 second span as the quarter wound down, with the goals coming from junior Paul Tortora Jr. and Donnally with 49 seconds left.

Junior Brendan Grant (Walpole, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) though got Bentley back in the game with a goal with 28 seconds left in the quarter, then made it 4-3 with another goal at the 12:41 mark of the fourth.

Saint Michael's though got the all important next goal, as Donnally scored his third with 8:30 left in the game.

That however, was the final goal of the game as Bentley couldn't get any closer despite a man-up opportunity.

Demario finished with 11 saves to earn the win and O'Neil finished 12.

Saint Michael's earns the three seed in the NE-10 Tournament with the win, and they improve to 7-2 in the conference and 8-5 overall. The Falcons will be the fourth seed and drop 6-6 overall and 6-3 in the NE-10.

They'll close out the regular season Saturday afternoon at Pace.

Box Score

At Waltham, Mass.

Saint Michael's (8-5, 7-2 NE-10)                 0   0   4   1   --   5

Bentley (6-6, 6-3 NE-10)                            0   0   2   1   --   3

Goals: B, Brendan Grant 2, Steve Caditz 1; S, Pete Donnally 3, Paul Tortora Jr. 1, Marty Vanzo 1

Assists: B, None; S, Tortora Jr. 1, Vanzo 1

Shots: B, 33; S, 35

Saves: B, Mike O'Neil 12; S, Chris Demario 11

Ground Balls: B, 29; S, 29

Face-offs: B, 9-12; S, 3-12

Extra-man Opps: B, 0-3; S, 0-1